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Mayo Clinic Minute: Tackling tobacco addiction
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Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 500,000 Americans are among those who die from cigarette smoking.
“It remains the number one preventable cause of death in the world,” says Dr. J. Taylor Hays, director of the Mayo Clinic Tobacco Dependency Clinic in Rochester. “Unless something changes, estimates are, in this century, we will see a billion deaths.”
But, people are finding ways to quit, and Mayo Clinic is helping them do it.
The Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center was one of the first centers in the country to focus exclusively on treatments for tobacco dependence. The center’s model of care has now become the standard in many medical centers around the United States.
“We’re a comprehensive treatment center,” explains Dr. Hays. “We see people in the clinic and patients in the hospital at the bedside, and we have a residential program where we offer an 8-day intensive treatment program.”
In this Mayo Clinic Minute, reporter Jeff Olsen speaks with Dr. Hays about the strategies used to help smokers to kick their habit.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (1:01) is in the downloads. Read the script.
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