Healthier younger adults linked to drop in smoking levels

As we reach the tenth day of the annual Stoptober Challenge, smokers across Britain should be encouraged to learn that the proportion of adults that are smoking in the UK has dropped to its smallest percentage since records began in the 1940s.

Figures published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that amongst the over-18s, smoking prevalence stood at 18.7% in 2013 – down from the rate of 19.8% in 2012.
The decline was revealed by the Integrated Household Survey run by ONS, a survey that quizzed almost 270,000 people over the age of 18 about their smoking habits.

The other large-scale survey to monitor smoking – the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey – demonstrated a smoking prevalence of 20% in 2012, and is widely expected to confirm the drop below one in five when its latest set of figures are released in November.

The 18.7% smoking rate shows ministers could be on course for hitting their target of bringing down the percentage of smokers to 18.5% by 2015 – if more people continue to quit.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: “It is very welcome that the number of smokers is at its lowest level as this means many more people will not die prematurely. However we want to help more people to quit as smoking is still a huge killer, taking nearly 80,000 lives a year. We know the idea of giving up smoking can be daunting but by using a local stop smoking service smokers are four times more likely to succeed.”

Much of the drop has been pinpointed to an ever-increasing number of younger adults that are quickly wising up to the massive damage that smoking can do, and turning against tobacco. The younger generation are generally more clean-living than their ancestors, something many believed could be linked the rise of social media, meaning there is a better chance youngsters are in their bedrooms on Facebook instead of hanging around street corners or in bars.

The ONS survey did find however that around 21.1% of men are smoking, compared to just 16.5% of women. A third of the population have successfully quit smoking, whilst half say they have never smoked.

The proportion of the population lighting up has drastically decreased though since the 1940s, then tobacco industry statistics showed almost two thirds of men were smokers. When the ONS began records of their own in 1974, 45% of Brits were smokers – 52% of men and 41% of women.
By 2006, the numbers had slashed in half, but stayed at around the 20% level through the years of the recent recession, despite the introduction of the 2007 smoking ban.

The new figures released this week were obviously met with delight by ministers and the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), who said the findings should allay fears that increasing use of electronic cigarettes would result in more people turning to regular smoking.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Ash, said: “This statistically significant decline in adult smokers shows that the government’s tobacco control plan is working. However, over 80,000 people still die from smoking every year in England and every week hundreds of children take up smoking.

“Tough new measures to regulate tobacco, like plain standardised packaging, are needed if we are to drive down smoking still further. We urge the government to waste no time in allowing parliament to vote on the regulations which will finally get rid of glitzy, glamorous cigarette packs forever,” Arnott said.

“The drop in smoking also shows that concerns that the use of electronic cigarettes would lead to a renormalisation of tobacco use appear unfounded. The rapid increase in use of these products has coincided with a consistent steady decline in smoking.”

Alarming figures show almost one billion smokers on the planet

The earth’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years, soaring to 7.1 billion according to the United States Census Bureau (USCB).

Inevitably, this has impacted the total number of smoker’s around the globe, with estimates showing there could be almost one billion people around the world who are lighting up. This is despite the fact that the habit is becoming less popular in certain parts of the world as people become more concerned for their health and the reality hits home that smoking is an incredibly expensive habit.

In 1980 it was estimated that the total number of global smokers stood at around 721 million. However, in 2012, this figure now stood at 967 million, according to data that was collated from 187 countries. The rise has occurred even though on the whole, the percentage of the population smoking on a daily basis across the globe has actually come down.

Research by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) have highlighted a spiralling population on the earth for the huge rise in smoking rates, with Bangladesh, China and Russia witnessing a particularly high number of inhabitants beginning to smoke during the last few years. Researchers noted that surprisingly, some of the largest smoking rates can be seen in the developing world.

Over half of the males in many countries smoke on a daily basis, such as those in Russia, Indonesia, Armenia, and Timor Leste.

At the other end of the scale however, the lowest smoking rates for men are found in Antigua and Barbuda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Nigeria. Smoking rates are lowest for women in Eritrea, Cameroon, and Morocco.

The small country of East Timor can claim the unwanted title of having the highest prevalence of tobacco use, with 61% of its population lighting up each and every day.

Two Caribbean Islands – Antigua and Barbuda – could proudly say they were jointly rock bottom of the list, with just 5% of their populations smoking each day.

Particular countries to be commended are Canada, Iceland, Norway and Mexico, all of whom were found to be effective at either getting their inhabitants to quit smoking, or manage to urge them not to start it in the first place.

IHME Director Dr Christopher Murray said: “Despite the tremendous progress made on tobacco control, much more remains to be done. We have the legal means to support tobacco control, and where we see progress being made we need to look for ways to accelerate that progress. Where we see stagnation, we need to find out what’s going wrong.”

Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) commented on the research, saying: “As the overall number of smokers worldwide is still rising, this study shows how important it is for all countries to implement a range of tobacco control measures to curb the terrible toll of tobacco-related illness and death. Low and middle-income countries in particular face an enormous challenge to fend off the powerful tobacco industry and stop smoking rates escalating.”

Smoking rates high among the mentally ill

People who suffer with a mental illness in the United States smoke cigarettes at a 70% higher rate than those who do not have any such illness. This is one of the many findings contained in a report released this week as a joint venture by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The new data also indicates that roughly one in every three adults across America with a mental illness smokes, compared to just one in five adults without mental illness. It is estimated that there are almost 46 million adults suffering with mental illness in the United States (about a fifth of the total population).

The report, which was constructed using information obtained from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, suggests that adults with mental illness light-up around a third of all cigarettes in the United States – smoking a higher quantity of cigarettes every month, (averaging 331 cigarettes per month, compared with 310 for other smokers) as well as more likely to have difficulty quitting the habit compared to those without mental illness.

“Many people with mental illness are at greater risk of dying early from smoking than of dying from their mental health conditions,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control.  He added: “We need to do more to help smokers with mental illness quit.”

For the CDC study, researchers looked at data from the 2009-2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which comprised of 138,000 adults being interviewed at their homes.

They were given 14 questions designed to determine possible psychological distress and disability. Participants were categorised as having mental illness if their answers reported a mental, behaviour or emotional disorder in the previous year. Anybody who stated they had a substance abuse problem or those with developmental disorders were not deemed to have mental illness.  Patients in mental hospitals or members of the U.S. military were excluded from the study.

For the purpose of the study, a ‘current smoker’ was defined as a person who had smoked at least some of a cigarette during the previous 30 days.

According to Dr. Frieden, in those with a mental illness, it was noted that smoking rates were increased in younger, poor and less-educated adults. Interestingly, regional discrepancies were seen for smoking habits among the mentally ill. For example, the rate was merely 18.2% in Utah, however it rose to 48.7% in West Virginia.

Some reasons highlighted in the study for reasons why the smoking rates are so high for those mentally ill include marketing from the tobacco industry and the historical utilisation of cigarettes as an incentive to help behaviour in psychiatric hospitals. Dr. Frieden says: “There are some effects of nicotine which can mask some of the negative effects of mental illness.”

Another reason was the fact that smoking may be hampering the effectiveness of certain medications, in turn leading to smokers with a mental illness then smoking more to deal with their symptoms. In addition, the study authors say that many people with mental illness find it challenging to sustain a life that is healthy both financially and socially, and more unable to cope with withdrawal symptoms from stopping smoking.

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death is numerous countries around the world and Dr. Frieden concluded that the subject of this report is “a very serious health issue that needs more attention.”