Utahns puff less tobacco than residents of any other state.
Only 14 percent of Utah's adults smoke cigarettes, according to a state report, titled "Utah's 1991 Health Status Survey: Tobacco Use." This compares with 26 percent of all adults nationally."We are pleased that Utah continues to lead the nation with the lowest rate of this high-risk behavior," said Rod Betit, executive director of the Utah Department of Health. With less smoking, "we see less illness and death."
The report says the percentage of male smokers decreased from 19 percent to 15 percent in the past five years. About 12 percent of women smoke. Some 81,000 men and 69,000 women smokers in Utah.
People who are widowed, divorced or separated are more likely to smoke than those who are married or who have never married. People without health insurance are twice as likely to be smokers, the report says.
The research was carried out by Valley Research Survey through telephone interviews with 7,500 randomly selected adult Utahns and000024has a possible error rate of plus or minus 4.3 percent.