Area Comes in Second….in Unhealthy Behavior

According to the Daily Beast, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area is second worst in the nation in terms of smokers.  To figure out which cities have the worst smoking problem, they measured which had the largest population of smokers (1/3 of score), where smokers smoked the most cigarettes per day (1/3 of score) and where fewest smokers tried to quit (1/3 0r score).  

#2, Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pennsylvania
Smokers: 23.5%
Cigarettes per day: 16.8
Tried to quit with gum: 25.8%
Tried to quit with patch: 27.6%
Tried to quit with support program: 9.3%

New CDC Report on Health Behaviors

The Center for Disease Control has just published the Surveillance for Certain Halth Behaviors Among States & Selected Local Areas--United States, 2008. (MMWR Surveillance Summaries Dec 10, 2010 59(SS10);1-221)  The report gives statistics for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area on things like teeth extractions, medical screening, smoking, drinking, leisure time, weight, and some specific diseases (asthma, coronary artery disease, stroke). The report is over 200 pages long and takes a while to load. 

 Health Info NEPA has links to information on many of these local public health issues.