UND study shows smoke-free laws reduce heart attacks
BISMARCK - A recent study by the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences reveals that the incidence of heart attacks in Grand Forks dropped by 24.1 percent within four months of the city's comprehensive smoke-free law taking effect in August 2010.
The study, funded by the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy (the Center), looked at an eight month window to evaluate the impact of how smoke-free ordinances make a difference in heart attack rates. The study measured four months before the smoke-free law went into effect and four months following the smoke-free law and reports a 69.4 percent reduction in heart attack admissions as a percentage of total hospital admissions in Grand Forks. This is particularly significant because overall hospital admissions increased during the same time frame.
"This study demonstrates the immediate health benefits of eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke," said Dr. Eric Johnson, an associate professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and co-author of the study. He added, "It's interesting that we saw this large of a drop when Grand Forks already had a partial smoke-free law in place before the implementation of the full smoke-free workplace law.”
The UND study is another in a string of recent reports linking the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free laws to the reduction in heart attacks and other cardiac-related episodes. In November, Mayo Clinic released a study conducted in Olmsted County, Minn., that incidence of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths was cut in half after a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance took effect.
"The UND study proves that comprehensive smoke-free laws save lives," said Jeanne Prom, executive director of the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy. "It demonstrates why we need to continue funding tobacco prevention programs."
Prom also stated that tobacco use is a major cause of many of the top chronic diseases – including cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, respiratory disease and is often the hidden cause of the disease recorded as responsible for death. Tobacco use is also the number one cause of preventable deaths in North Dakota. Today, 37 percent of North Dakotans are protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws.
“Although this marks great progress for North Dakota, the work has just begun,” Prom said. ”More smoke-free ordinances must be put into place so everyone is protected from the dangers of secondhand smoke.”
According to Prom, evidence continues to mount showing that comprehensive tobacco prevention programs are critical to keep young people from starting to smoke, increase the number of people who quit, and decrease nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke.
Prom said “to accomplish this task in North Dakota, it is vital to continue funding North Dakota’s comprehensive tobacco prevention efforts.”
###
The Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy administers the funding of a comprehensive tobacco prevention and control program. North Dakota voters passed a statewide initiated measure that requires a portion of the money North Dakota receives from tobacco settlement dollars to be used for tobacco prevention and control programs.
The Center, along with the North Dakota Department of Health, local public health units, and other partners, is charged with implementing North Dakota’s comprehensive state tobacco prevention plan: Saving Lives – Saving Money. The plan’s goals are to significantly reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences by using policies and programs proven to keep kids from starting to use tobacco, help tobacco users quit, and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.
For more information visit www.breathend.com or follow us on www.facebook.com/BreatheND or www.twitter.com/BreatheND.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big bucks will spread big lies about cigarette tax initiative
Big tobacco companies already have coughed up nearly $15 million to try to kill a California ballot initiative that would boost the state's cigarette tax by $1 to fund cancer research and tobacco-prevention programs.
According to the campaign-finance watchdog group Maplight, the leading contributor to the tobacco industry's assault on the proposition is Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris, followed by Reynolds American Inc. Though the committee opposing the referendum calls itself "Californians Against Out-of-Control Taxes and Spending," all of its money comes from tobacco companies, public records show.
Read more
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NDQuits Offers Tobacco Users Innovative Resources To Help Them Successfully Quit
Department of Health Announces New Tobacco Cessation Program name, logo and website
BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Department of Health today revealed a new name, logo and website for the state’s tobacco cessation program. NDQuits is a program that offers multiple ways to help tobacco users quit using tobacco.
“We realize that no single method of quitting tobacco works for everyone,” said Michelle Walker, director of the North Dakota Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. “NDQuits offers three ways for tobacco users to get help with quitting – by phone, online or by using their mobile device. North Dakota residents can use any or all of these services for free. They can find the way that fits for them.”
NDQuits was developed to provide one name for the tobacco cessation services offered by the North Dakota Department of Health and to make it more convenient and easy to remember. People can go to the NDQuits website at www.ndhealth.gov/ndquits to learn about all the ways they can get help quitting. The website also features a brief video that describes some of the cessation options available.
NDQuits offers cessation services on the phone through the North Dakota Tobacco Quitline, on the computer via North Dakota QuitNet and on mobile devices via North Dakota QuitNet Mobile. Some of the services offered through NDQuits are:
· Free nicotine patches, gum or lozenges to help with the quitting process for qualified enrollees.
· Access to professional cessation counselors.
· Assistance in designing a personal quit plan.
· Online support from other quitters all over the world 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.
· QuitTips e-mail messages that will offer tips about staying quit.
· An audio library featuring prerecorded messages about the quitting process.
“Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disability in North Dakota. Nearly 900 people in the state die each year and many more suffer illnesses like heart attacks, strokes and lung diseases because of tobacco use and secondhand smoke,” said Karalee Harper, director of the North Dakota Department of Health’s Division of Chronic Disease. “It’s sad to think of the suffering that our family members, friends and neighbors experience due to tobacco. We encourage people to seek help from NDQuits, which is free and confidential, and beat tobacco for good.”
Approximately 17 percent of North Dakota adults smoke and 5 percent of adults use smokeless tobacco products. In 2010, nearly 59 percent of adult smokers tried to quit.
“Studies show that tobacco users are much more successful at quitting when they have help and advice from a professional counselor, along with medication. NDQuits offers both of these services for free,” said Walker. “Our current Quitline and QuitNet services have been very successful. Since the inception of the Quitline in September 2004 and the addition of QuitNet in February 2010, we’ve had 13,601 enrollments in our cessation services. The Quitline has an extremely high success rate. Six months after counseling, 36.1 percent of former tobacco users are still not using tobacco. We plan to continue that success with NDQuits and provide even more tobacco users with the chance to achieve better health and a longer life.”
NDQuits is part of the North Dakota Department of Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, funded by the legislature through funds received in the Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco industry.
If you would like help quitting smoking or tobacco use, log on to www.ndhealth.gov/ndquits and find the way of quitting that fits for you.
For more information about quitting tobacco, tobacco use in North Dakota or the NDQuits program, call Michelle Walker at 701.328.2315.
