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Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and is consequently an important area or public health interventions. Smoking damages nearly every organ in the body and substantially increases the risks for many cancers, coronary heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive lung diseases. Additionally, smoking has many negative effects for reproduction and early childhood including increased infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. About 438,000 deaths per year in the U.S. are caused by smoking, 38,000 of those deaths are due to secondhand smoke. Smoking costs more than 193 billion dollars per year in lost productivity and health care. Nearly 21% of adults and 23% of high school students are current smokers in the U.S. and in Indiana 24.1% of adults are current smokers. A focus on helping people make the decision to quit smoking and public smoking bans are important for improving tobacco related health outcomes.
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