NATION IN BRIEF : GEORGIA : Study Ties Smoking to Education Level

The less education people have, the more likely they are to smoke cigarettes, the federal Centers for Disease Control said in reporting the results of a 1988 study conducted in 36 states and the District of Columbia. About 45% of school dropouts ages 18 to 34 were found to be habitual smokers. In the same age group, about 35% of high school graduates smoked, while only 20% of the college-educated did. The same pattern prevailed among older people, although the differences were less pronounced, officials at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters said. Spokeswoman Margaret Pickerel said the data prompted a search for new ways to inform less-educated adults about the hazards of smoking.