Pricing Policies And Control of Tobacco in Europe (PPACTE) project: cross-national comparison of smoking prevalence in 18 European countries

Limited data on smoking prevalence allowing valid between-country comparison are available in Europe. The aim of this study is to provide data on smoking prevalence and its determinants in 18 European countries. In 2010, within the Pricing Policies And Control of Tobacco in Europe (PPACTE) project, we conducted a face-to-face survey on smoking in 18 European countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden) on a total of 18 056 participants, representative for each country of the population aged 15 years or older. Overall, 27.2% of the participants were current smokers (30.6% of men and 24.1% of women). Smoking prevalence was highest in Bulgaria (40.9%) and Greece (38.9%) and lowest in Italy (22.0%) and Sweden (16.3%). Smoking prevalence ranged between 15.7% (Sweden) and 44.3% (Bulgaria) for men and between 11.6% (Albania) and 38.1% (Ireland) for women. Multivariate analysis showed a significant inverse trend between smoking prevalence and the level of education in both sexes. Male-to-female smoking prevalence ratios ranged from 0.85 in Spain to 3.47 in Albania and current-to-ex prevalence ratios ranged from 0.68 in Sweden to 4.28 in Albania. There are considerable differences across Europe in smoking prevalence, and male-to-female and current-to-ex smoking prevalence ratios. Eastern European countries, lower income countries and those with less advanced tobacco control policies have less favourable smoking patterns and are at an earlier stage of the tobacco epidemic.

[1]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Illicit cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco in 18 European countries: a cross-sectional survey , 2012, Tobacco Control.

[2]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Tobacco control: economic aspects of smoking. , 2012, Preventive medicine.

[3]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Lung cancer mortality in European women: trends and predictions. , 2012, Lung cancer.

[4]  D. Kaleta,et al.  Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of daily cigarette smoking in Poland: Results from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2009–2010) , 2012, International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health.

[5]  Alan D. Lopez,et al.  Stages of the cigarette epidemic on entering its second century , 2012, Tobacco Control.

[6]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Smoking in young and adult population, Italy 2009. , 2011, Tumori.

[7]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Smoking in young and adult population, Italy 2009 , 2011 .

[8]  S. Chatterji,et al.  Social Determinants of Smoking in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Results from the World Health Survey , 2011, PloS one.

[9]  J. Denney,et al.  Cross-National Sources of Health Inequality: Education and Tobacco Use in the World Health Survey , 2011, Demography.

[10]  E. Fernández,et al.  Smoking Behaviour, Involuntary Smoking, Attitudes towards Smoke-Free Legislations, and Tobacco Control Activities in the European Union , 2010, PloS one.

[11]  J. Britton,et al.  Smoking prevalence in the European Union: a comparison of national and transnational prevalence survey methods and results , 2010, Tobacco Control.

[12]  E. Fernández,et al.  Temporal changes of under-reporting of cigarette consumption in population-based studies , 2010, Tobacco Control.

[13]  K. Stronks,et al.  A cross-national comparative study of smoking prevalence and cessation between English and Dutch South Asian and African origin populations: the role of national context. , 2010, Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

[14]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Cancer mortality in Europe, 2000-2004, and an overview of trends since 1975. , 2010, Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

[15]  M. Hashibe,et al.  Determinants of smoking initiation among women in five European countries: a cross-sectional survey , 2010, BMC public health.

[16]  M. Hashibe,et al.  Home and workplace smoking bans in Italy, Ireland, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic , 2009, European Respiratory Journal.

[17]  J. Klumbienė,et al.  Female ever-smoking, education, emancipation and economic development in 19 European countries. , 2009, Social science & medicine.

[18]  Johan P Mackenbach,et al.  Health disadvantage in US adults aged 50 to 74 years: a comparison of the health of rich and poor Americans with that of Europeans. , 2009, American journal of public health.

[19]  D. Panagiotakos,et al.  The relationship between smokers' motivation to quit and intensity of tobacco control at the population level: a comparison of five European countries , 2008, BMC public health.

[20]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Price and cigarette consumption in Europe , 2006, Tobacco Control.

[21]  J. Mackenbach,et al.  Inequalities in the prevalence of smoking in the European Union: comparing education and income. , 2005, Preventive medicine.

[22]  M. Mckee,et al.  Prevalence of smoking in 8 countries of the former Soviet Union: results from the living conditions, lifestyles and health study. , 2004, American journal of public health.

[23]  M. Mckee,et al.  Determinants of smoking in eight countries of the former Soviet Union: results from the living conditions, lifestyles and health study. , 2004, Addiction.

[24]  Jeannine S. Schiller,et al.  Summary health statistics for U.S. adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2002. , 2004, Vital and health statistics. Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey.

[25]  G. Patton,et al.  Adolescent substance use: beware of international comparisons. , 2003, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[26]  A. Zuckerman,et al.  IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans , 1995, IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans.

[27]  C. la Vecchia,et al.  Patterns of smoking initiation in Italian males and females from 1955 to 1985. , 1995, Preventive medicine.

[28]  Alan D. Lopez,et al.  A descriptive model of the cigarette epidemic in developed countries , 1994 .

[29]  Jeannine S. Schiller,et al.  Summary health statistics for U.S. adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2010. , 2012, Vital and health statistics. Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey.

[30]  S. Gallus,et al.  Policy Recommendations for Tobacco Taxation in the European Union Integrated Research Findings from the PPACTE Project , 2012 .

[31]  V. Nam.  Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) , 2010 .

[32]  Copenhagen,et al.  European Health for All Database (HFA-DB) , 2005 .

[33]  Raydel Valdés Salgado.  [The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control]. , 2003, Salud publica de Mexico.