Smoking among white, black, and yellow men and women. Kaiser-Permanente multiphasic health examination data, 1964-1968.

Abstract

Friedman, G. D. (Permanente Medical Group, 3779 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, Calif. 94611), C. C. Seltzer, A. B. Siegelaub, R. Feldman and M. F. Collen. Smoking among white, black, and yellow men and women: Kaiser-Permanente multiphasic health examination data, 1964-1968. Am J Epidemiol 96: 23–35, 1972.—Substantial differences in smoking habits were noted in relation to age, sex, and race among 89,066 white, black, and yellow men and women. The study subjects reported their smoking habits at the Kaiser-Permanente multiphasic health checkup, given in San Francisco and Oakland, California during the years 1964–1968. Cigarette smoking was more prevalent among men than women. The age decades 20–29 and 30–39 contained the largest proportion of smokers. On the average the yellows contained the lowest percentage of cigarette smokers; and in most age-sex groups of smokers, yellows were the least apt to inhale. Current cigarette smoking was more prevalent in black men than in white men. Among cigarette smokers whites were most apt to inhale and to smoke at least one pack per day. A smaller proportion of cigarette smokers was noted among Chinese than among Japanese, particularly in women and younger men.