A new Ball State University study says more than half of all Indiana smokers have tried to quit smoking in the past year.
The study called "Burden of Smoking Among Adults in Indiana" shows that could eventually lead to billions of dollars in healthcare costs savings for the state.
The report by Ball State‘s Global Health Institute is based on 2011 CDC data. It finds that almost 58 percent of Hoosiers tried to kick the habit. The study included those who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes and at least a few times each week.
The study shows that in 2010 9,700 Hoosiers died and smoking related illnesses cost $4.7 billion. Nationally, smoking costs total more than $193 billion including $96 billion in health care alone.