About 9.5 percent of Utahns reported being smokers in 2006 - 1.7 percent lower than in 2005, and 4 percent lower than in 1999, the earliest year for which detailed data is provided, according to the 2007 Utah Tobacco Prevention and Control Program annual report released Wednesday.
In the last eight years, 30 percent of Utah's adult smokers have snuffed out their habit - about 17 percent above the national average, said Lena Dibble, marketing director for the Utah Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TPCP).
Reductions in Utah's smoking rates since 1999 also include 38 percent fewer young smokers, 28 percent fewer pregnant women smokers and 50 percent less smoking inside homes with children, the report states.
"We really want to get the word out that we're seeing decreases," Dibble said. "It's a health issue. We really want to let people know that's why we're working on these programs. We're trying to stop death and disease."
While the overall decrease is promising, Dibble said, more than 188,000 Utah adults and youth continue to smoke, many of them people who make less than $20,000 a year, didn't finish high school or are a member of a minority group.
Combined data for the years 2002 through 2006 show that 28.9 percent of African Americans smoke, as do 18.5 percent of American Indians/Alaska Natives and 12.1 percent of Hispanics.
By comparison, 10.9 percent of non-Hispanic whites in Utah smoke. Asians and Pacific Islanders, however, had the lowest percentage of smokers, at 9.5 percent and 8.8 percent.
Such data has prompted Utah to customize its anti-smoking messages and programs to groups most likely to puff, Dibble said.
Several networks, for example, hold commmunity cessation classes and offer educational materials at festivals. A ad campaign that followed Utah Latinos through the quitting process spurred an increase in calls to the Spanish language Utah Tobacco Quit Line, Dibble said.
Also, 1,000 low-income, uninsured or Medicaid-insured Utahns received counseling and more than 650 prescriptions for medications to help them quit tobacco, the report states.
New data that breaks down health statistics by small communities will also be a boon to the state's prevention efforts, Dibble said. That data, for instance, shows smoking rates ranging from 26 percent in South Salt Lake to 1 percent in the BYU/Provo area.
Tobacco use is still the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and more than 1,100 Utahns will die from their own smoking. Another estimated 140 to 250 adults, children and babies will die due to exposure to second-hand smoke.
"We feel like this is still a massive problem that needs continued efforts," Dibble said.
