Residents of black neighborhoods are exposed to an average of 2.6 more tobacco ads than people living in white neighborhoods, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Aug. 21 that the Pitt researchers counted the total number of ads in each market, parsed out the tobacco ads, then correlated them with the population of the neighborhoods. Researchers looked at advertising in communities in California, Illinois, Missouri, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and other states.

The study also found that the proportion of tobacco ads to ads for other products was 70 percent higher in black neighborhoods than white communities.

Limiting the study was the fact that it was based on studies of advertising techniques, like billboard ads, that have now been banned.

The research by Brian Primack and colleagues is published in the September/October 2007 issue of Public Health Reports.