Atlanta, GA – Alabama is among the top 10 states with the highest average annual smoking death rates.
Kentucky and West Virginia had the highest death rate, according to the U-S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. Rounding out the top 10 with the highest rates were Nevada, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana and Missouri. The lowest death rates were in Utah and Hawaii.
Alabama's rate was about 318 deaths out of every 100,000 adults age 35 and older. The national median is 263 per 100,000. The rates were calculated using death certificate data from 2000 through 2004. The study focused on lung cancer and 18 other diseases caused by cigarette smoking.
The report is published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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