Despite bouts of emphysema, smokers continue to smoke in spite of debilitating chronic illness

Nearly half of Americans who suffered from emphysema in 2003 still smoked in spite of the debilitating chronic illness associated with cigarette smoking, according to a federal health care survey released this week.

While 43 percent of people with emphysema did not give up cigarettes, about a quarter of adults with other smoking-related diseases also reported that they continued to smoke, according to the survey conducted by an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Twenty-two percent of people with asthma, 21 percent of stroke victims and 20 percent of people with cardiovascular problems said they continued to light up, the survey reported.

Among other findings, slightly less than half of all Americans who smoked in 2003 had a routine medical check-up within the last year, compared with 61 percent of nonsmokers.

Sixty-three percent of the smokers who did have a routine check-up were advised by a physician to stop smoking, up from 57 percent in 2000, the survey said.

The survey results are based on health care information collected each year from a sample of U.S. households.