Disabled People Most Likely To Smoke

[The Straight Story]

Disabled People Most Likely To Smoke
One In Four Disabled People Lights Up

ATLANTA -- Americans with disabilities smoke more than everyone else, according to the first national study to compare smoking rates between the two groups.

About one in four disabled people are smokers, compared to about one in five among the non-disabled, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

More people with disabilities also said they'd seen a doctor or nurse recently and had been advised to quit cigarettes, the CDC study found.

Having such national data is helpful, but the results aren't surprising, said Kenneth Warner, a leading tobacco researcher who is dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The disabled population included people with mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions -- groups known to have higher smoking rates.

http://www.local6.com/spotlight/14264160/detail.html

[Breeze54]

1. What's the data on the obese?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20071002/hl_hsn/obesitydrivingrisingushealthcosts">Obesity Driving Rising U.S. Health Costs

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter Tue Oct 2, 7:01 PM ET

TUESDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) --

Obesity is a big factor driving soaring rates of chronic disease in the United States,
with many more Americans chronically ill than their European counterparts, a new study finds.

It's an expensive problem, too: According to researchers, chronic illnesses such as diabetes
and heart disease account for some $100 to $150 billion in health-care spending in the United
States each year.

"The United States spends twice as much as European countries on health care," noted lead
researcher Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at
Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. "Seventy-five percent of
what we spend in this country is associated with patients that have one or more chronic
conditions and most of the growth is due to obesity."

More........