Health News
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
Fewer Kentucky high-school students are smoking cigarettes. The state dropped to sixth place from first in high-school smoking in the 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System report.
In the survey, which is done in odd-numbered years, 17.9 percent of Kentucky high-schoolers reported that they were smoking cigarettes, down one-fourth from 24.1 percent in 2011. Nationwide, the current rate is 15.7 percent.
In 1997, when the CDC first started tracking student smoking, 47 percent of Kentucky youth reported smoking. The state has now cut that bu more than half, and gone beyond its "Healthy Kentuckians 2020" goal of reducing youth smoking to 19 percent.
The survey sampled 1,626 Kentucky high-school students and got responses from 85 percent. The final sample of 1,382 is subject to an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, leaving no doubt that youth smoking in Kentucky declined significantly from 2011 to 2013 -- by 25.7 percent, if the figures are without sampling error.
Before state officials knew about the big drop in 2011-13, they set a goal of decreasing youth smoking by another 10 percent by 2019 as part of the "kyhealthnow" initiative.
?When I announced our ambitious goals for kyhealthnow in February of this year, smoking was one of the most obvious areas we needed to address,? Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release. ?I am pleased to see teen smoking trending downward, but I remain committed to further reducing cigarette use among our youth.?
Kyhealthnow is an aggressive plan to improve the state's collective health. One component of the plan to cut youth smoking by 10 percent includes comprehensive smoke-free policies and tobacco-free schools.
Only 33 of Kentucky's 173 public school districts are tobacco-free, according to the state Department for Public Health. Since nearly nine out of 10 smokers start by age 18, early intervention is a "key element in reducing the overall burden of tobacco use in Kentucky," the release says.
Youth who smoke can develop cardiovascular disease, smaller lungs that don?t function normally, wheezing that can lead to asthma, and eventually cellular damage that can lead to cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes and a host of other diseases, according to the release.
?While we?re pleased to see a reduction in youth smoking, it?s important to note that we still have too many youth who smoke and others who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke,? said state Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield. ?The health consequences of smoking are seen throughout many of the diseases impacting Kentuckians. Smoking cessation could significantly reduce the rates of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases which are linked to tobacco use.?
Smoking cessation programs are available to people 15 and older in Kentucky, and are available in multiple languages. For more information call 1-800-784-8669 or go to www.QuitNowKentucky.org.
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Health News
Smoking among Kentucky youth dropped by one-fourth from 2011 to 2013, biennial CDC survey determines
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| Photo from TobaccoPreventionK12 |
Kentucky Health News
Fewer Kentucky high-school students are smoking cigarettes. The state dropped to sixth place from first in high-school smoking in the 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System report.
In the survey, which is done in odd-numbered years, 17.9 percent of Kentucky high-schoolers reported that they were smoking cigarettes, down one-fourth from 24.1 percent in 2011. Nationwide, the current rate is 15.7 percent.
In 1997, when the CDC first started tracking student smoking, 47 percent of Kentucky youth reported smoking. The state has now cut that bu more than half, and gone beyond its "Healthy Kentuckians 2020" goal of reducing youth smoking to 19 percent.
The survey sampled 1,626 Kentucky high-school students and got responses from 85 percent. The final sample of 1,382 is subject to an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, leaving no doubt that youth smoking in Kentucky declined significantly from 2011 to 2013 -- by 25.7 percent, if the figures are without sampling error.
Before state officials knew about the big drop in 2011-13, they set a goal of decreasing youth smoking by another 10 percent by 2019 as part of the "kyhealthnow" initiative.
?When I announced our ambitious goals for kyhealthnow in February of this year, smoking was one of the most obvious areas we needed to address,? Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release. ?I am pleased to see teen smoking trending downward, but I remain committed to further reducing cigarette use among our youth.?
Kyhealthnow is an aggressive plan to improve the state's collective health. One component of the plan to cut youth smoking by 10 percent includes comprehensive smoke-free policies and tobacco-free schools.
Only 33 of Kentucky's 173 public school districts are tobacco-free, according to the state Department for Public Health. Since nearly nine out of 10 smokers start by age 18, early intervention is a "key element in reducing the overall burden of tobacco use in Kentucky," the release says.
Youth who smoke can develop cardiovascular disease, smaller lungs that don?t function normally, wheezing that can lead to asthma, and eventually cellular damage that can lead to cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes and a host of other diseases, according to the release.
?While we?re pleased to see a reduction in youth smoking, it?s important to note that we still have too many youth who smoke and others who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke,? said state Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield. ?The health consequences of smoking are seen throughout many of the diseases impacting Kentuckians. Smoking cessation could significantly reduce the rates of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases which are linked to tobacco use.?
Smoking cessation programs are available to people 15 and older in Kentucky, and are available in multiple languages. For more information call 1-800-784-8669 or go to www.QuitNowKentucky.org.
- State's Commissioners Of Education And Health Urge Kentucky's School Boards To Make Their Campuses Smoke-free
The commissioners of Kentucky?s education and health departments have jointly signed and sent letters to all 173 school superintendents in the state asking them to pass full smoking bans "to protect the health of students," Devin Katayama reports for...
- Report Links Smoking With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Other Diseases
By Melissa Landon Kentucky Health News Smoking is even more harmful than previously thought. It not only can cause lung cancer but also rheumatoid arthritis and a long list of other diseases, according to The Health Consequences of Smoking?50 Years of...
- U.s. Teens' Cigarette Use Drops To A New Low, But Use Of Alcohol Goes Up A Bit And More 12th Graders Are Smoking Marijuana
Teenagers' cigarette smoking dropped to a record low this year but alcohol use rose slightly after seven years of decline, according to a survey of 45,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th- graders for the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The survey also found...
- Number Of Teens And Young Adults Who Smoke, Use Smokeless Tobacco Is On The Rise
A "shocking" number of American teenagers smoke cigarettes and/or use smokeless tobacco, the first U.S. surgeon general's report on youth tobacco since 1994 has found. (Photo by Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images) "The numbers are really shocking,"...
- Non-profit Encourages Districts To Go Tobacco Free Inside And Outside Of Schools
In an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, encourages school districts to adopt comprehensive tobacco-free policies. "Many believe that schools are already tobacco-free,...