U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin held a meeting in Washington DC on July 28th, the topic was "Cessation in High Risk Populations". Out of this meeting, came a few new facts that caught my attention. Here's just a few: Smoking rates: w/college education 10%
if below the poverty level 30%
if below the poverty level 30%
suffer from a mental illness 39%
dependent on alcohol 50%
Approximately half of the 443,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the US are among people with mental illness and/or addictions; and they consume 44% of the cigarettes in the US
There are 46 million smokers in the US; 70% want to quit; 45% will try this year. In comparison, China has 350 million smokers...only 13% plan to quit.
The numbers continue to be staggering, but the fight remains the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment