Contact Tammy Gay

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"Many smokers want to quit, but they do not have the resources to do so. We know what works. Counseling coupled with nicotine replacement therapy such as the patch or the gum has been shown to be the most effective way to help adults become non-smokers. In the long run, Kentucky would save money by helping smokers become non-smokers. For every $1 spent on smoking cessation services, $9 is spent on treating sick smokers."

- UK College of Nursing Associate Professor Ellen Hahn, D.N.S.

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Tobacco-related questions were placed on the Kentucky Survey by the UK College of Nursing. During a March-April 1999 telephone survey, a random sample of 628 Kentucky residents were asked their views about whether tobacco settlement money should be spent to prevent youth smoking, to help smokers quit, to help farmers diversify their crops, and/or to help with some other purpose.

The survey showed 85 percent think the settlement money should be used to help farmers diversify crops; 67 percent want the money to be used to help smokers quit; and 58 percent agree money should be used to help prevent youth smoking, said UK College of Nursing Associate Professor Ellen Hahn, D.N.S.

When asked whether settlement dollars should be used for some other purpose, 6 percent said money should be used for health care for smokers, and 6 percent said it should be used for general education.

"Many smokers want to quit, but they do not have the resources to do so. We know what works. Counseling coupled with nicotine replacement therapy such as the patch or the gum has been shown to be the most effective way to help adults become non-smokers," Hahn said. "In the long run, Kentucky would save money by helping smokers become non-smokers. For every $1 spent on smoking cessation services, $9 is spent on treating sick smokers."

Kentucky, which has the highest proportion of adults in the United States who smoke cigarettes, will receive nearly $1 billion over the next 25 years from a recent tobacco settlement.

During the survey, 628 interviews (27.5 percent response rate) were completed with adults 18 and older. The margin of error is about plus or minus 3.91 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

One in three people interviewed smokes cigarettes; one in 10 uses smokeless tobacco, cigars, or pipes; and nearly one in 10 owns tobacco allotments.

In a related study, Hahn and UK College of Nursing Research Assistant Professor Mary Kay Rayens, Ph.D., studied the need for smoking cessation programs by analyzing data collected by the Kentucky Department of Health in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Findings show that almost one third of Kentucky adults are regular smokers, and half of them made at least one unsuccessful attempt to quit smoking in the past year.

Young adults and minorities are the most likely to attempt to quit smoking. Almost two out of three (63 percent) young adults ages 18 to 34 tried unsuccessfully to quit in the last year, Hahn said. About the same number - 64 percent - of African-American smokers and 75 percent of Hispanic smokers tried to quit smoking, but failed.

The smoking rate among low-income Kentuckians is much higher (38 percent) than among higher-income state residents (27 percent).