U.S. smoking rate declines, but poor remain at higher risk, By Sabrina Tavernise, November 12, 2015, New York Times: “Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, continued to decline last year, federal health authorities reported Thursday, with the share of American adults who smoke dropping to 16.8 percent, down from 17.8 percent in 2013. Smoking has been one of the brightest public health successes of recent history. Nearly half of all Americans smoked in the 1960s, but a broad push against the habit, starting with the surgeon general’s warning in 1964, helped bring rates down. The rate has dropped by about a fifth since 2005, when it was 21 percent. But the national numbers mask deep trouble spots within the American population…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty