AUTHOR=Landrine Hope , Corral Irma , Simms Denise A., Roesch Scott , Pichon Latrice , Ake Diane , Villodas Feion 

TITLE=Telephone Surveys Underestimate Cigarette Smoking among African-Americans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=1

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2013.00036

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2013.00036

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> This study tested the hypothesis that data from random digit-dial telephone surveys underestimate the prevalence of cigarette smoking among African-American adults.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> A novel, community-sampling method was used to obtain a statewide, random sample of <italic>N</italic> = 2118 California (CA) African-American/Black adults, surveyed door-to-door. This Black community sample was compared to the Blacks in the CA Health Interview Survey (<italic>N</italic> = 2315), a statewide, random digit-dial telephone survey conducted simultaneously.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Smoking prevalence was significantly higher among community (33%) than among telephone survey (19%) Blacks, even after controlling for sample differences in demographics.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Telephone surveys underestimate smoking among African-Americans and probably underestimate other health risk behaviors as well. Alternative methods are needed to obtain accurate data on African-American health behaviors and on the magnitude of racial disparities in them.</p>