Contribution of Smoking to Excess Mortality in Harlem

The aim of this research was to examine self-reported smoking habits according to measures of socioeconomic status among Harlem men and women in order to estimate the contribution of tobacco consumption to Harlems remarkably high excess mortality. During 1992-1994 in-person interviews were conducted among 695 Harlem adults aged 18-65 years who were randomly selected from dwelling unit enumeration lists. The self-reported prevalence of current smoking was strikingly high among both men (48%) and women (41%) even among highly educated men (38%). The 21% of respondents without working telephones reported an even higher prevalence of current smoking (61%) indicating that national and state-based estimates which rely on telephone surveys may seriously underestimate the prevalence of smoking in poor urban communities. Among persons aged 35-64 years the smoking attributable fractions for selected causes of death were larger in Harlem than in either New York City as a whole or the entire United States for both men and women. (EXCERPT)