Daily HealthBeat Tip - August 09, 2007

Young and wanting to quit

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Lots of young men and women who smoke wish they didn’t, but can’t seem to quit. They have the motivation. But a researcher says they don’t use treatments that could double their chances of quitting.

Susan Curry of the University of Illinois at Chicago looked at data in a survey supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  She says:

"They are much less likely to use proven treatments to help them quit smoking than other adult smokers are." (7 seconds)

For example, about 17 percent of 18- to-24-year-olds used approved medications such as nicotine patches, compared with 32 percent of smokers who were ages 25 and older. But 70 percent of smokers in both groups wanted to quit.

The study was in the American Journal of Public Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 09 2007