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Data Suggests Kentucky Women Continue to Smoke at High Rates
Despite numerous campaigns and public health initiatives aimed at reducing smoking in Kentucky, new data suggests that women in the state continue to smoke at above-average rates, the Bowling Green Daily News reports. According to recent data from the Center for the Advancement of Women's Health at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the median state smoking rate nationwide is 22.4 percent. However, the smoking rate in Kentucky is 34.7 percent. Meanwhile, the rate of smoking cessation among daily smokers averages 28.9 percent in Kentucky, compared with a 39.8 percent national average. Moreover, the median percent of daily smokers who have made a quit attempt was 58 percent, but in Kentucky it was only 43.4 percent. An analysis of smoking behaviors among participants of the Kentucky Women's Health Registry, meanwhile, reveals that Kentucky's 34.7 percent smoking rate among women of child-bearing age and 26.3 percent among pregnant women far exceeds the national average of 22.4 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively. As a result, Kentucky women consistently have high-ranking morbidity rates for smoking-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. In addition, pregnant women who smoke are more likely to experience miscarriage, late pre-term births or have a child suffer from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. According to the Daily News, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) recently announced a major public health initiative aimed at curbing smoking throughout the state (Switzer, Bowling Green Daily News, 11/2/09).