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LA County Quit Smoking Summit Sends Message to Smokers

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 August 2006, 15:00 CDT

At a first ever countywide quit smoking summit, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health today released comprehensive results of the 2005 Health Survey showing that while the county's overall smoking rate has declined to a historic low of 14.6 percent, there is a significant disparity among ethnic and gender groups regarding smoking rates.

African American men smoke at a rate of 26.9 percent and African American women smoke at 22.9 percent. This means that while only one in seven adults in Los Angeles County smokes cigarettes, a startling one in four African Americans continue to smoke. Asian, Latino and white men in Los Angeles County also smoke at comparatively high rates of 19.6 percent, 16.6 percent and 16.9 percent respectively. In addition, Asian and Latino men smoke at more than twice the rate of their female counterparts.

To address these high smoking rates, the Department of Public Health kicked off an aggressive one-year campaign to help the county's more than one million smokers quit their addiction. The county was joined at the summit by more than 75 organizations representing public health, doctors, nurses, dentists, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies and retail outlets.

"Los Angeles County has made great progress in reducing smoking rates and the health burden associated with tobacco addiction," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, acting director, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. "But what this survey tells us is that we must continue our efforts so ALL of our residents can avoid the disease and death caused by tobacco use.

"Today's summit is the start of a year long 'cig-alert' and the launch of It's Quitting Time, L.A.!," continued Fielding. "While we are proud of the decline in smoking prevalence in the county, it still represents more than 1 million adult smokers -- 1,067,221 to be exact...this is just too high to not be moved to action."

Organizations involved in today's summit include American Legacy Foundation, California Dental Hygienist Association, California Endowment, California Smokers' Helpline, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Emergency Room Doctor Association, Family Practice Physicians, GSK, Kaiser Permanente, LA County Medical Association, Longs Drug Stores, National Cancer Institute, Nursing Association, Pfizer, Public Health Dental, Respiratory Therapist Group, UCLA, UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, Watts Health Care Foundation and Wellpoint.

"I believe that with the leadership and collaboration between all the summit attendees, we have the ability to not only reach the 12 percent goal, but to surpass it," stated County Supervisor Burke. "We have the ability to become the first large county in the United States to reach the Healthy People 2010 goal."

Data shows that nearly three in four of LA County's smokers have tried to quit without success. According to the Centers for Disease Control, smoking cessation treatments such as those being discussed at this summit double quitting success rates.

"Smoking cessation assistance, such as support, counseling and pharmacotherapy, can increase a smokers ability to quit. By joining forces with groups throughout the region, we will bring quit smoking resources where they're needed most," said Fielding.

Cigarette smoking is a known cause of many debilitating diseases, including respiratory and vascular ailments, cancers, heart disease and stroke. In January, the California Air Resources board declared secondhand smoke a Toxic Air Contaminant and last month's report by US Surgeon General Richard Carmona concluded the substance to have no safe exposure level.

The Center for Disease Control's national Healthy People 2010 program is a set of disease prevention objectives designed to improve quality of life and eliminate health disparities.

The Los Angeles County Health Survey is a population-based telephone survey of more than 8,000 adults that provides information concerning the health of Los Angeles County residents. The data are used for assessing health-related needs of the population, for program planning and policy development, and for program evaluation.

The relatively large sample size allows users to obtain health indicator data for large demographic subgroups and across geographic regions of the county, including Service Planning Areas and Health Districts.

Source: Business Wire

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