CDC: High smoking rate among Native Americans continues to climb

WASHINGTON – Cigarette use by Native Americans, already the highest in the nation, grew to 38.9 percent at a time when most other ethnic groups saw their rates dropping, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday.

The report said smoking by Native American and Alaska Native adults grew from 37.1 percent in the period 2002 to 2005 to 38.9 percent between 2010 and 2013. That led other ethnic groups by a large margin, with blacks and whites tied for second-highest rate of cigarette smoking at 24.9 percent.

The numbers are “disappointing,” but not surprising, according to the director of the University of Arizona Center for Rural Health.

http://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2016/08/04/cdc-high-smoking-rate-among-native-americans-continues-climb/