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For immediate release: October 12, 2006 (06-160)
Contacts:
Joe Campo, Center for Health
Statistics 360-236-4321
Jeff Smith, Communications Office
360-236-4072
Smoking-related deaths higher than expected in western Washington
OLYMPIA ¾ Tobacco use may be a key factor in the higher than expected rate of deaths in a large western Washington region.
"It’s important to look at a variety of trends and factors to learn what’s affecting the health of people in our state," said Joe Campo, co-author of the recently released Department of Health report, Vital Statistics, 2004. "On average about 15 percent more people than expected died per year in that region, which — given the size and population — equals more than 1,250 excess deaths per year."
Analytical and statistical tools from the National Cancer Institute helped identify regions with higher than expected death rates for selected diseases and also identified trends in disease rates. These tools can help the agency use its resources more efficiently by showing public health needs at the local level and by showing the impacts of public health initiatives over time.
"These new tools help tell us where we should focus our education and outreach for many public health issues," Campo said. "It makes the agency more efficient in getting information and programs into areas where they are needed the most."
The tools showed that rates of heart disease, lung cancer and stroke were all significantly higher in this region than in the rest of Washington. This area includes most of the Olympic Peninsula south to the Columbia River and east to mid-Pierce County.
These diseases are connected with tobacco use, and a separate analysis on birth certificate data reinforces suspicion that tobacco is a likely underlying cause.
"When we looked at maternal smoking rates, we found they were higher than expected in essentially the same region," Campo said. "We’re obviously not suggesting that maternal smoking causes these diseases; rather, we see this as a potential indicator that there may be a higher rate of smoking in general in this area." Campo also noted that the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, an annual phone survey conducted by the agency, shows that most of the counties in this region are among the top 10 in smoking prevalence.
A similar pattern was also seen in the Spokane area – higher than expected tobacco-related deaths and higher than expected maternal smoking rates. The number of deaths was 20 percent higher than expected resulting in an additional 200 deaths.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Washington
The new report also includes trend analyses. These show that for all deaths combined — as well as for the two leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer — the age-adjusted rates are significantly decreasing. For the last six years, heart disease death rates fell by nearly 4 percent a year, while at the same time cancer rates declined by 1.3 percent a year. Because of these differences in the trends, 2004 marks the first time cancer replaces heart disease as the leading cause of death in Washington.
Infant mortality and low birth weight
Infant mortality rates, which had been decreasing by more than 8 percent a year from 1989 to 1994, have since leveled off and show no significant change in the last 10 years.
In assessing regional variations in infant mortality, a core region in the south Puget Sound area including Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Shelton and Bremerton appears to have higher infant mortality rates than the rest of the state. This is consistent with other findings in the report showing this same general region also has higher rates of low birth-weight newborns and higher rates of late or no pre-natal care, factors known to be associated with infant mortality.
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12/18/2006 11:08 AM
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