Anchorage Daily News

The good news: Alaskans are smoking a lot less than they were five years ago. The bad news: We're older, fatter and more arthritic. So says a new federal survey that shows Alaskans are slightly less healthy than national norms.

On the positive side, the number of adult Alaskans who currently smoke has fallen by about one-fifth -- from 29 percent in 2002 to 22 percent in 2007, according to a telephone survey conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, 19.8 percent of adult Americans smoke.

The improvement in Alaska translates to 27,000 fewer smokers statewide -- and 8,000 fewer smoking-related deaths, according to a calculation by the state Department of Health and Social Services.

It also suggests that the state's 10-year-old anti-smoking campaign is starting to show results, says Erin Peterson, a manager with the department's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

Alaska currently spends $6.8 million a year on various efforts to curb smoking, Peterson said. And the state saves money each day a smoker gives up tobacco. The reduction in the number of smokers so far is expected to save the state $300 million in cumulative health care costs.

"It's saving lives -- it's saving money," Peterson said. "For the investment that's been made, we're getting a very good return."

Unfortunately, Alaskans are also gaining weight.

Ten years ago, only 19.7 percent of the state's population qualified as obese, according to a body mass index comparison of individual height and weight. In 2007, 28.2 percent of Alaskans rated as obese -- a 43 percent increase.

Only 12 states -- all in the southeastern U.S. -- showed higher rates of obesity than Alaska. Colorado, at 19.3 percent, had the lowest rate.

Along with the extra pounds has come a higher incidence of Alaskans who suffer from arthritis, up from 17 percent in 2001 to 25 percent in 2007.

Doctors say that people who are overweight add stress to the joints in the knees and hips that are most susceptible to arthritis.

But the condition is also a simple sign of aging, and Alaskans on average are older. In 1996, only 17 percent of Alaskans were older than 55, according to the CDC; now 25 percent are.

"This is the bad news about my job," says Dr. Jay Butler, the state's chief medical officer. "Which is to say: 'Look folks, we're all getting older and fatter.' "

Alaskans could address the latter by making healthier food choices, eating less and exercising more, Butler said. But he maintains that there is nothing wrong with aging.

"Especially when you consider the alternative."

One of the most successful strategies of Alaska's tobacco cessation program, Peterson said, has been the state's free telephone Quit Line, which provides personal "quit coaches," individualized quit plans and nicotine replacement therapy to anyone who wants it.

Since the service was introduced five years ago, thousands of Alaskans have taken advantage of the Quit Line, Peterson said -- and about 40 percent of those who did have managed to quit tobacco.

Other findings in the survey show that Alaskans are:

• Drinking less. The number who say they've had an alcoholic drink in the past 30 days decreased from 61.5 percent in 2001 to 54.8 percent in 2007.

• Drinking more: The number who say they "binge drink" -- defined as men who consume more than five drinks at a time, or women who consume more than four drinks at a time -- has risen from 17 percent in 2006 (the first year it was measured) to 19.2 percent in 2007.

Despite all this, 86 percent of Alaskans surveyed by the CDC self-rated their own health as "excellent," "very good" or "good."

Find George Bryson online at adn.com/contact/gbryson or call 257-4318.

About this study

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is the world's largest ongoing telephone health survey. It tracks health conditions and risk behaviors monthly throughout the United States. More than 350,000 adults are interviewed each year.

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