Healthy Living

When I recently did an Internet search for “cigarette smoking statistics in Connecticut,” I got more than 4 million hits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website yielded so many statistics my head was soon spinning.

But here are two sentences that put it all in perspective: “Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.” That’s pretty shocking.

On a more positive note, a recent smoking cessation program held at our hospital — the American Lung Association program, “Freedom From Smoking” — was a great success.

More than half of the 29 people who took the seven-week course reported that they “quit for good.” Most of the others report they significantly cut down on the number of cigarettes smoked in a day. All of the participants in the program found the group support to be very helpful.

For more information about how to participate in this proven American Lung Association program, call (860) 889-8331, ext 6381, and be one of the good statistics.

Andrea Zrenda is a respiratory therapist at The William W. Backus Hospital. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. If you want to comment on this column or others, visit the Healthy Living blog at www.backushospital.org/backus-blogs or e-mail Ms. Zrenda or any of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org