People with disabilities face obstacles almost everywhere they turn. Yes, the American Disability Act has paved the road to clear some of these obstacles, but many others remain. The attitude of others towards their disability is possibly the most significant roadblock to quality of life.
One area where hindrances to services would not be expected would be in the medical arena. Certainly, doctors and nurses would be the most compassionate, and also assure all benefits of care were provided, regardless of the person's infirmities.
Therefore, it comes as a surprise that this is not necessarily true. Seems those people who must endure one disability or another, often do not receive the preventive health services given to others.
One of those most important health services is smoking cessation. Smoking prevalence among people with disabilities is nearly 50 percent higher than among people without disabilities (29.9 percent vs. 19.8 percent), according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Preventing Chronic Disease. The study found that in 2004, smoking prevalence for people with disabilities is highest in Delaware (39.4 percent) and lowest in Puerto Rico (16.5 percent).
The study found that about 70 percent of people with disabilities who smoke and had visited a doctor in the last year had been advised to quit smoking. However, more than 40 percent of those advised to quit reported not being told about the types of tobacco-cessation treatment available.
“About 50 million Americans are living with a disability and most Americans will experience a disability some time during the course of their lives. The release of these findings reminds us that disparities persist in the health and health care of people with disabilities.
People who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely. Benefits are greater for people who stop at earlier ages, but cessation is beneficial at all ages. Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer. The risk for developing cancer declines with the number of years of smoking cessation.
Quitting smoking is the most important step smokers can take to improve their overall health and reduce their risk for disease. Approximately 10 percent of smokers have a smoking-related chronic disease, primarily heart disease or emphysema. Smokers who quit will, on average, live longer and have fewer years living with disability.
Disparities in smoking prevalence, in addition to barriers to the use of preventive services (such as traveling to a doctor′s appointment) put people with disabilities at risk for declining health. Researchers are unsure why the smoking prevalence is higher in people with disabilities, but it is an area for further examination. However, research confirms that people with disabilities are less likely than people without disabilities to receive preventive health care and therefore are more subject to illness and disease. As per the 2005 Surgeon General′s Call to Improve the Health and Wellness of Persons with Disabilities, the resulting higher health care expenditure costs and productivity losses for people with disabilities, which exceeds $300 billion, can be understood as a result of too little attention to the other health needs of these individuals by health providers.
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