Smoking takes its toll in county, state
SPJ - 3/93

One out of 5 people in Portage County who died last year did so because of tobacco.

Of the 390 Portage County deaths in 1992, 70 people lost their lives due to smoking, according to statistics of the WI Division of Health.

The statistics are gathered through reporting of actual deaths, behavioral risk surveys, census data and formulas of the CDC, according to Richard Yoast, director of the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST) at the Division of Health. ASSIST WI is a 7 year partnership between the National Cancer Institute, WI Division of Health, American Cancer Society, American Lung Society and American Heart Association.

Statewide, 8,000 people died in 1992 due to smoking, Yoast said. Another 780 people were nonsmokers who died due to tobacco-related diseases, he said.

One-third of the county's cancer deaths last year - 25 - were smoking-related, according to ASSIST. Almost half of the 36 lung disease deaths in Portage County were due to smoking, according to ASSIST. One in every five cardiovascular disease deaths in the county were the result of smoking, statistics show.

Of the more than 14,000 people who smoke in the county, approximately 4,000 are women ages 15 to 44. Women smokers are on the rise, Yoast said.

"Smoking rates are coming down in general for all groups, but they are relatively stable for children," he said. "There has been no significant change at all in the last 10 years among children."

That's why ASSIST is working to make sure they never start smoking.

"Probably 90% of people who smoke are addicted before they are 18, certainly by 21,"Yoast said. "Almost no one begins smoking after that.

"Tobacco companies say they don't target children, but they will run out of smokers if they don't."

Most adults, too, admit they have tried to quit Yoast said. He takes that as a good sign that ASSIST will be able to reach its goal of reducing the number of smokers in the state from 26% to 14% in the next five years.

If health isn't a big enough incentive to stop smoking, perhaps finances are.

The economic costs of smoking are almost $1.4 billion in WI. Portage County makes up about $12.5 million of that figure.

The costs include hospitalization, physician services, nursing home care, drugs, medical care and the value of productivity lost due to smoking-related illness away from work, Yoast said.