Smoking and African American Adults: The Facts, and Ten Stories From CDC's Tips Campaign

The facts

Heart disease, cancer and stroke are among the leading causes of death for African American adults in the United States — and smoking cigarettes raises the risk of all three. About 1 in 8 (11.7%) non-Hispanic Black adults in the U.S. smokes.

Several factors link commercial tobacco to higher rates of disease, disability and death in different groups; CDC explains the health disparities that affect African American people, and how many people smoke nationally and by group.

Their stories

CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign features real people living with smoking-related disease and disability, and the family members who care for them.

Angie P., 62, of Ohio, started smoking menthol cigarettes at 15, using them to cope with her fear that people around her wouldn't accept that she is gay.

Annette S., 57, of New York, began smoking as a teenager. At 52 she was diagnosed with lung cancer and had a lung removed; later she was diagnosed with oral cancer.

Geri M., 58, of Michigan, started smoking menthols at 20. She was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) at 44, got winded easily, and at 54 had to give up her job as a mail carrier. She now depends on oxygen to breathe — and hopes her story helps even one person quit, turning her hardship into something good.

Ethan B., 59, of California, started smoking menthols regularly at 18, having grown up with ads that made smoking look "cool." He had two strokes, which damaged his memory; sometimes he forgets how to use everyday things. Smoking to look cool, he says, turned out to be nothing like cool once it brought on a stroke.

Jamason C., 18, of Kentucky, was diagnosed with asthma as a baby. When people smoke around him, secondhand smoke can set off life-threatening asthma attacks.

James F., 48, of New York, began smoking at 14. He quit in 2010 to lower his risk of health problems and now bikes 10 miles every day.

Julia C., 58, of Mississippi, started smoking in her early twenties. At 49 she developed colon cancer, and after surgery and chemotherapy she lives with an ostomy bag attached to an opening in her abdomen.

Marie W., 62, of New York, began smoking in high school. Diagnosed with Buerger's disease in her forties, she has lost part of her right foot, her left leg and several fingertips to amputation.

Roosevelt S., 51, of Virginia, began smoking as a teenager. At 45 he had a heart attack; doctors later placed stents and performed six bypasses.

Tiffany R., 40, of Louisiana, started smoking at 19, even though her mother, a smoker, had died of lung cancer. She quit so she would be there for her own teenage daughter.

Portraits from CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign. More participants: Real Stories.

Free help to quit

• Phone: 1-800-QUIT-NOW; 1-855-DÉJELO-YA (Spanish); 1-800-838-8917 (Chinese); 1-800-556-5564 (Korean); 1-800-778-8440 (Vietnamese).
• Text: QUITNOW to 333888 (message and data rates may apply), or the quitSTART app.
• Web: CDC's Quit Smoking pages (en español), Smokefree.gov, and the Asian Smokers' Quitline.
• Medicines: the FDA has approved 7 quit-smoking medicines; ask your insurer or health plan about getting them free or at reduced cost.

Sources

Based on "African American People," Tips From Former Smokers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing "Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2021," MMWR; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The source lists Julia C. once as "Julie C."; her story is Julia's. A smokefree.gov banner is not reproduced.