TOBACCO IS KILLING (AND COSTING) US

A Report on Tobacco Use Rates, Smoking-Related Deaths,
and Smoking-Related Health Care Costs in West Virginia

Every year thousands of West Virginians die because they smoke. The Health Statistics Center (West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, Office of Epidemiology and Health Promotion) utilized SAMMEC 2004¹ to estimate the average annual number of smoking-related deaths among people aged 35+ in the state and in each county for the period 1999 through 2003. This calculation involved evaluating county populations, smoking prevalence rates by age and sex, the number of deaths by age group and the number of deaths due to causes associated with smoking. Using this model, it was estimated that a total of 3,842 lives were lost each year in West Virginia from 1999 to 2003 due to cigarette smoking.² This number represents nearly one in every five deaths during that time period. Table 3 and Figure 6 present smoking-attributable deaths by county. The SAMMEC model does not address the calculation of estimated deaths due to smokeless tobacco use.

• More people die each year from cigarette smoking and related illnesses than die from AIDS, alcohol, traffic accidents, illicit drugs, murder and suicide combined.
  - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  
• The West Virginia lung cancer death rate from 1992-2001 was 25 percent higher than the United States rate for 1997.
  - 2004 West Virginia County Health Profiles
  
  
  
Nearly 1 in 5 deaths in West Virginia is related to smoking cigarettes.
- SAMMEC, West Virginia Bureau for Public Health



• The West Virginia 2003 death rate for chronic lower respiratory diseases was 41 percent higher than the U.S. rate.
  - 2003 West Virginia Vital Statistics
  
  
  

Table 3 Deaths among Persons Aged 35+ in West Virginia due to Smoking Average Annual, 1999-2003
County	Deaths due to smokig	% of Total Deaths Ages 35+	Rank	County	Deaths due to smokig	% of Total Deaths Ages 35+	Rank
Barbour	32	17.1%	46	Monongalia	95	15.6%	51
Berkeley	136	21.7%	7	Monroe	25	17.6%	43
Boone	69	24.0%	2	Morgan	30	18.7%	26
Braxton	32	19.4%	17	Nicholas	55	19.3%	20
Brooke	59	18.6%	28	Ohio	110	18.1%	37
Cabell	224	19.4%	18	Pendleton	12	14.7%	54
Calhoun	19	20.5%	11	Pleasants	18	20.5%	10
Clay	26	22.4%	6	Pocahontas	19	17.0%	48
Doddridge	16	19.8%	14	Preston	51	15.2%	52
Fayette	114	19.1%	22	Putnam	78	18.4%	29
Gilmer	15	18.4%	33	Raleigh	162	18.1%	38
Grant	19	16.6%	49	Randolph	44	13.1%	55
Greenbrier	74	17.2%	44	Ritchie	24	18.2%	36
Hampshire	34	17.8%	42	Roane	33	18.8%	24
Hancock	62	15.1%	53	Summers	32	18.4%	31
Hardy	25	18.0%	40	Taylor	32	17.1%	45
Harrison	184	21.4%	8	Tucker	16	18.1%	39
Jackson	63	20.9%	9	Tyler	21	18.3%	35
Jefferson	67	18.4%	32	Upshur	44	17.0%	47
Kanawha	467	19.2%	21	Wayne	90	20.3%	12
Lewis	42	19.6%	15	Webster	20	18.4%	30
Lincoln	57	23.7%	3	Wetzel	40	19.4%	19
Logan	93	19.9%	13	Wirt	13	27.3%	1
McDowell	86	22.8%	5	Wood	175	17.9%	41
Marion	142	19.5%	16	Wyoming	50	18.4%	34
Marshall	71	18.8%	23	Total WV	3,842	18.9%
Mason	54	18.8%	25
Mercer	149	18.6%	27
Mineral	48	16.5%	50
Mingo	75	23.6%	4

Footnotes:
 ¹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (SAMMEC): Adult SAMMEC and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) SAMMEC software, 2004. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sammec

 ² Using earlier versions of the SAMMEC model, statewide smoking-attributable deaths were estimated at 3,325 in 1985, 4,221 in 1990, and 4,240 from 1995-99.

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