Office of Public Relations — Newsroom
News Release
UCCC Receives Amendment 35 Funding to Survey Tobacco Attitudes in Colorado
AURORA, Colo. (Nov. 9, 2005) — The University of Colorado Cancer Center has begun interviewing adults across Colorado to learn how smoking rates and attitudes about tobacco are changing. From now through January, survey workers will call randomly selected homes to complete a 10-minute interview with roughly 13,000 Coloradans.
The project, called the Colorado Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (TABS), is one of the nation's largest efforts to track state progress in stopping teens from getting hooked on cigarettes and helping adult smokers who want to quit. This round marks the second time TABS has been done.
"The 2001 TABS survey turned up some surprises," said Arnold Levinson, PhD, who leads the project. "For example, we found that smoking is as big a problem among Colorado Hispanics as it is among non-Hispanics." Other states report lower smoking rates among Hispanics.
"This second round will show us where we're making progress and where we need to work harder," Levinson said. Based on limited evidence, Colorado's overall smoking rate may be falling faster than in many other states. The second TABS survey will help find groups of people and parts of the state that have been left behind.
Cigarette smoking accounts for roughly one-fifth of Colorado deaths each year. The average smoker dies 10 to 15 years earlier than a comparable nonsmoker.
Most smokers say they would like to stop smoking, and more than half try to quit each year, but only a small percentage succeed. Programs like the Colorado Quitline improve the chances of quitting, as does proper use of nicotine products such as patches, gum, inhalers or lozenges.
The first round of TABS was funded by proceeds from the state's legal settlement with the tobacco industry. It was conducted by Levinson at the AMC Cancer Research Center, which formally affiliated with UCCC this year.
The current round of TABS is being funded by revenues from Amendment 35, a 64-cent tobacco tax that voters approved in November by a two-to-one margin. More than half the tax revenues fund access to health care for low-income working families and other uninsured Coloradans. The tax revenues also fund prevention, detection and treatment of heart and lung diseases and cancer, as well as programs to reduce tobacco use, especially among children and adolescents.
The University of Colorado Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the Rocky Mountain Region. Headquartered primarily at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, its four-part mission is excellence in cancer research, treatment, prevention and education. For more information, visit the Web site at www.uccc.info.
Quitline Information
For those who want to quit smoking, the Colorado Quitline at 1-800-639-QUIT (7848) and the Colorado QuitNet at www.co.quitnet.com offer smoking cessation services free of charge to everyone in the state. These services have helped 37,000 Coloradoans through the quitting process.
The Colorado Quitline, operated by National Jewish Hospital under contract to the department's State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership program, is a free telephone counseling service, available in English and Spanish throughout the state. The Colorado Quitline connects people who want to quit tobacco with trained counselors who can support them through the quitting process. The Quitline is available Monday through Thursday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.; on Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.; and on Saturday and Sunday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The Colorado QuitNet is a Web site that offers peer support through an online community of individuals who are trying to quit, as well as expert advice on quitting strategies and medications that may be helpful. The QuitNet is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week.