A higher percentage of Arkansans use tobacco than on average in the United States. Not surprisingly, death rates in Arkansas because of heart disease and stroke are also substantially higher than in the broader U.S. population. Arkansans also have higher rates of high blood pressure and tobacco-related cancers, such as lung or head and neck cancer.
Despite substantial public efforts to help Arkansans stop using tobacco, according to Arkansas Department of Health data, in 2010 nearly 23 percent of adult Arkansans and more than 23 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes. More than eight percent of adult Arkansans and nearly 15 percent of high school students in Arkansas reported use of smokeless tobacco.
