Trends in smoking behaviour between 1985 and 2000 in nine European countries by education

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether trends in smoking behaviour in Western Europe between 1985 and 2000 differed by education group. Design: Data of smoking behaviour and education level were obtained from national cross sectional surveys conducted between 1985 and 2000 (a period characterised by intense tobacco control policies) and analysed for countries combined and each country separately. Annual trends in smoking prevalence and the quantity of cigarettes consumed by smokers were summarised for each education level. Education inequalities in smoking were examined at four time points. Setting: Data were obtained from nine European countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Participants: 451 386 non-institutionalised men and women 25-79 years old. Main outcome measures: Smoking status, daily quantity of cigarettes consumed by smokers. Results: Combined country analyses showed greater declines in smoking and tobacco consumption among tertiary educated men and women compared with their less educated counterparts. In country specific analyses, elementary educated British men and women, and elementary educated Italian men showed greater declines in smoking than their more educated counterparts. Among Swedish, Finnish, Danish, German, Italian, and Spanish women, greater declines were seen among more educated groups. Conclusions: Widening education inequalities in smoking related diseases may be seen in several European countries in the future. More insight into effective strategies specifically targeting the smoking behaviour of low educated groups may be gained from examining the tobacco control policies of the UK and Italy over this period.

Longitudinal trends in good self-rated health: effects of age and birth cohort in a 25-year follow-up study in Sweden

“…Several studies have concluded that improved lifestyle and better treatments resulted in the compression of morbidity in older individuals during the latter part of the twentieth century (Fries 1980;Mor 2005). Furthermore, in Europe the rate of smoking decreased during this period, which affects the frequency and severity of smoking-related diseases (Giskes et al 2005). Earlier research confirms our results of longitudinal trends of better subjective health in the elderly (Ishizaki et al 2009;Thorslund and Parker 2005;Zack et al 2004).…”

Tracing the cigarette epidemic: An age-period-cohort study of education, gender and smoking using a pseudo-panel approach

“…Even though smoking has decreased among all socio-economic groups, some studies have found that differences between groups have remained stable or even increased over time (Escobedo and Peddicord, 1996;Giskes et al, 2005;Peretti-Watel et al, 2009), which suggest that that diffusion has been blocked or delayed. Following this line of thought, Dixon and Banwell argued that the smoking epidemic model should include a fifth stage marked by "sedimentation of smoking in successive low SES cohorts" (Dixon and Banwell, 2009). 3.…”

Multiple socio-economic circumstances and healthy food habits

“…Socio-economic inequalities in health behaviours and health are well established (Lantz et al, 1998;Dalstra et al, 2005;Giskes et al, 2005;Lahelma et al, 2005). Nevertheless, mutual associations between various dimensions of socioeconomic position and healthy food habits are poorly understood.…”