UNC-released poll finds that North Carolinians surveyed support greater investment in health

The poll, commissioned by Research!America and conducted by Harris Interactive between Jan. 20 and Feb. 10, explored awareness of and support for public health research and included several questions about tobacco-related research. Data were weighted to represent North Carolina demographics.

Results were announced at “Making Healthy Headlines,” a media/science forum sponsored by Research!America and presented by UNC’s schools of public health, medicine, and journalism and mass communication, and UNC’s Center for Women’s Health Research.

The N.C. poll found that 83 percent support raising North Carolina’s cigarette excise tax if a portion of the proceeds go to public health programs for children, and 79 percent said they believe public health research on tobacco use should be a priority for the state.

“This poll clearly documents that North Carolina residents want to see our state invest in prevention programs and in public health research,” said Dr. Kurt Ribisl, associate professor of health behavior and health education in UNC’s School of Public Health and a specialist in tobacco control policy research.

“In fact, if 10 cents of the proposed new tax on each pack of cigarettes were added to existing funding from the tobacco settlement dedicated to tobacco use prevention, for the first time, North Carolina could reach the level of spending for tobacco control programs recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, if we set aside just four cents of the tax for public health research, it would raise more than 15 million dollars each year.”

Nearly 165,700 of the state’s young people who smoke will die prematurely from tobacco-caused illness if current trends continue, according to a 1996 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“North Carolina has a unique opportunity to positively impact the health of our next generation,” Ribisl said. “States that have made a serious investment in their tobacco control programs are now experiencing large declines in youth and adult smoking and are seeing significant reductions in the number of tobacco-related deaths and illnesses.”

The poll found that many surveyed support using funds from the N.C. tobacco settlement to fund prevention and public health research:

7 91 percent endorse using these funds to provide support for public health departments to improve the health of the community;

7 90 percent support using this money for funding the treatment of smoking-related health conditions such as cancer and heart disease;

7 75 percent support using this money on programs to prevent tobacco use and research to develop programs to help smokers quit; and

7 91 percent support using these monies to fund research to find cures to prevent all diseases.

The poll also indicated that strong majorities favor other initiatives to increase funding for public health research: 81 percent favor the creation of a state tax return check-off for voluntary donations to health research, and 78 percent favor increasing the sales tax on alcohol to support public health research.

Sixty-three percent of those polled also said they think that not enough money is spent finding ways to protect and promote health through public health research. Approximately one cent of every health-care dollar nationwide currently goes toward public health research, according to a 2000 Institute of Medicine report, “Promoting Health.” Sixty-nine percent of those polled think that figure should be double or more.

The media/science forum brought together researchers and journalists statewide to discuss ways to improve science communications and public understanding of medical and health research.

“The public’s health must remain a national priority,” said Dr. William L. Roper, who spoke at the event. “It is heartening to see such broad support for public health research in these poll results.”

Roper is dean of UNC’s School of Medicine, vice chancellor for medical affairs and chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System. He also chairs Research!America’s Prevention Research Initiative, which coordinates programs and polls nationwide with the goal of building greater support for prevention and public health research.

“Public health research is the key to improving our quality of life by enabling people to have healthier futures,” said Mary Woolley, president of Research!America. “North Carolina residents want to be assured of those benefits for healthier tomorrows for their families.”

The media/science forum was held in conjunction with UNC’s sixth annual Women’s Health Research Day, which takes place Wednesday (March 23). More information on the research day is at http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar05/whrd031805.html.

Research!America is a not-for-profit, membership-supported public education and outreach alliance founded in 1989 to make medical and health research – including research to prevent disease, disability and injury and to promote health – a much higher national priority. Its Prevention Research Initiative (PRI), funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides polling information and programs to build greater national support for prevention and public health research.

Harris Interactive conducted the 15-minute poll by telephone with N.C. residents, ages 18 and older. The poll is the 25th in a series of state surveys conducted for the PRI.

Survey data were weighted by age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, Metropolitan Statistical Area, household size and the number of telephone lines in the household to reflect the demographic composition of the North Carolina population using the March 2004 Current Population Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. The results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points of what the results would be if the entire adult population of North Carolina had been polled.

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Research!America contact: Sharon Berry, (703)739-2577, ext. 12

UNC News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu

For further information please contact Emily Smith either by phone at 919.966.8498 or by email at emily_smith@unc.edu