DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new study shows higher rates of smoking in rural Iowa counties.  The Des Moines Register reports that the study says some Iowa counties have double the smoking rates of others.  The national report from the University of Washington says Iowa’s Dallas County had the seventh-fastest decline in smoking from 1996 through 2012, when it went from 19.4 percent to 10.9 percent.

The report also shows that all Iowa counties have had declines in smoking. The researchers used data from phone surveys taken for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.