The overall percentage of smokers in Los Angeles County has reached a new low of 14.3% on average. But recently released reports illustrate a sharp difference in smoking rates along racial, cultural and geographic divides.<\/p>\n
The lowest smoking rates were found in expensive, white areas with high education levels, such as San Marino (5.3%), Malibu (5.8%) and LaCanada-Flintridge (6.4%).<\/p>\n
Broken down into ethnicity and gender, the highest rates of smoking were found to be among:<\/p>\n
Korean-American males: 44.8%
\nAfrican-American males: 32.1%
\nVietnamese-American males: 24.8%
\nAfrican-American females: 19.6%
\nLatino-American males: 17.7%
\nFilipino-American males: 17.1%
\nChinese-American males: 16.4%<\/p>\n
It is believed that in 1 of 7 deaths, smoking was a major contributing cause. Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disability.<\/p>\n
Although lacking necessary funding in every area of operation, Los Angeles County agencies are currently spending $4.3 billion in tax money to pay for the costs of tobacco related diseases. Of this amount, the County is sinking $2.3 billion into direct health care expenditures.<\/p>\n
Download the report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n