Smoking Prevalence Estimates Research Articles

Tobacco and alcohol use among Australian secondary school students in 1990.

To obtain up-to-date prevalence estimates of tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking among Australian secondary students, and to compare these estimates with those obtained from similar studies conducted in 1984 and 1987. Data were collected from 24,892 secondary students aged 12 to 17 years from all Australian States and the Northern Territory. A stratified two-stage sample design was used. First, a random sample of schools was selected and second, for each school a sample of 80 students was randomly selected from predetermined year levels. A total of 351 schools participated in the survey. Students completed an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire on their smoking and drinking behaviours. The prevalence of current smoking (defined as having smoked at least one cigarette in the week preceding the survey) was found to increase with age to reach a peak of 25% among 16-year-old boys and 29% among girls aged 15 years. From the age of 13, smoking was more prevalent among girls than boys. Among current smokers, boys were heavier smokers than were girls. Unlike smoking, drinking was slightly more prevalent among boys than girls; boys were heavier drinkers. The proportion consuming at least one alcoholic drink in the week before the survey rose with age to a peak of 51% of boys and 46% of girls aged 17 years. Comparisons with data obtained from a similar survey conducted in 1987 showed that there had been a decrease in the proportion of 12 to 15 year olds smoking. The prevalence of drinking among both 12 to 15 year olds and 16 to 17 year olds was significantly lower in 1990 than 1987. While the continuing downward trends in smoking and drinking among younger students is encouraging, the results show that there are still large numbers of students smoking and drinking.

Children's exposure to parental smoking in West Germany.

In this study, we derive national estimates of the prevalence of children's exposure to parental smoking in West Germany. The estimates are based on a national health survey conducted in 1987 and refer to those parents living in the same household as the child. Estimated prevalences of maternal smoking range from 18.9% among children aged < 2 years to more than 30% among 2-5 and 6-13 year old children. Estimates of paternal smoking prevalence are considerably higher: 33.7% among children < 2 years old and 43.1% and 46.8% among 2-5 and 6-13 year old children, respectively. The prevalence of at least one smoking household member was 49.9% among 2-5 year old children, while a clear majority of children aged < 2 years (58.8%) and 6-13 (67.5%) were living in a household with at least one smoker. For all age groups, prevalence of maternal and paternal smoking was considerably higher among children of less-educated parents than among children of better-educated parents. Given the high prevalence of parental smoking and the association of parental smoking with a variety of respiratory diseases in children, a large proportion of these diseases could be prevented by efforts to reduce smoking among parents.

Smoking Prevalence in the United States and Taipei City, Taiwan

Although there are extensive antismoking efforts in the United States, smoking is a largely ignored health issue in Taiwan. In fact, tobacco advertising has increased dramatically since U.S. tobacco was first imported in 1987. We compared estimates of smoking prevalence of 83,281 Americans and 5,023 persons in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1986-1988. Among men, current smoking prevalence was higher in Taipei (49%) than in the United States (29%). In contrast, former smoking prevalence among men was substantially lower in Taipei (5%) than in the United States (32%). Young adults and those with lower and middle education levels had the highest smoking prevalence in both surveys. Among women, the current smoking prevalence was only 8% in Taipei, compared to 25% in the United States. The former smoking prevalence among Taipei women (1%) was also lower than among U.S. women (18%). Our findings indicate the need for expanding antismoking efforts in Taiwan, especially among men and among persons with lower and middle education levels.

Health Promotion Data for State Health Departments: Telephone versus in-Person Survey Estimates of Smoking and Alcohol Use

Abstract During 1988, more than 40 state health departments conducted telephone surveys to obtain state-specific population estimates of the prevalence of adult health behaviors and health practices. However, the comparability of estimates obtained from these telephone surveys with more expensive in-person surveys has not been assessed in an applied setting. This study compared the prevalence estimates of smoking and binge drinking obtained from a telephone survey (N = 1,492) with an in-person survey (N = 2,802) which were conducted by the state of Michigan during 1982-1983. Although the standard errors for the differences in the estimates for the two surveys were relatively large, the actual differences were consistently small within most age-, sex-, and education-specific groups. Despite certain limitations, telephone surveys provide a reasonable alternative to in-person surveys for estimating the prevalence of health behaviors. The data obtained from these surveys are being used to set state health objectives, to plan state-wide health promotion programs, and to support public health legislation.

Prevalence of cigarette smoking in the United States: estimates from the 1985 current population survey.

In September 1985, the Census Bureau collected health information on 114,342 individuals as part of its Current Population Survey (CPS). A special supplement that included questions on smoking practices was sponsored by the Office on Smoking and Health. The CPS, with its large sample size, provides a unique opportunity to examine region, division, and state estimates of smoking prevalence. The overall prevalence rate for males in the 1985 CPS was estimated at 31.3%, compared with 25.0% for females. For males, smoking rates were highest in the South (34.5%) and lowest in the West (28.0%). For females, smoking rates were highest in the North Central region (26.3%) and lowest in the West (22.7%). Among males, blacks reported higher smoking rates (37.2%) than whites (30.7%) or Hispanics (30.9%). In contrast, white females (25.8%) and black females (26.0%) reported virtually identical smoking rates, while Hispanic females reported a considerably lower rate (16.5%). White-collar workers (both males and females) also reported substantially lower smoking rates than service or blue-collar workers. For both males and females, peak smoking prevalence occurred in the 40-49-year age group (males = 38.1%, females = 30.6%).

The Urban Distribution of Lung Cancer Mortality in England and Wales 1980-1983

Lung cancer area mortality rates for the period 1980-1983 in England and Wales followed the pattern observed for previous years, with high rates concentrated in urban districts and low rates in remote rural districts. Using data for 401 local government districts, estimates of smoking prevalence were made from socio-economic distributions and regional smoking variations. Confounding effects of migration and errors in mortality records were investigated by comparing the pattern of recorded lung cancer mortality with that of all other cancers. Holding these variables constant by statistical means reduced the correlation between lung cancer SMRs and population density from 0.65 to 0.53 for males and from 0.54 to 0.46 for females, so a large proportion of the urban-rural gradient remained unexplained. It is likely that a combination of several effects rather than a single urban risk factor is responsible for the urban concentration of lung cancer mortality.

Adolescent Nonsmokers, Triers, and Regular Smokers' Estimates of Cigarette Smoking Prevalence: When Do Overestimations Occur and by Whom?1

The present study tested three assumptions often made by smoking prevention researchers and practitioners regarding the nature and causes of smoking prevalence estimates. Specifically, it is often assumed that (a) adolescent prevalence estimates of all levels of smoking are inflated, (b) youths at different stages of smoking onset all overestimate smoking prevalence, and (c) the predictors of these estimates are the same for youths at different stages of smoking onset. Measures of smoking behavior based on self‐reports using a bogus pipeline procedure, estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence (trying behavior and weekly use), and reports of smoking in significant others were obtained by the same youths when they were in eighth and ninth grades. Results indicated that, taken over all youths, estimates of trying cigarettes were accurate, whereas estimates of weekly use were inflated. When responders were defined by their stage of smoking onset, either as a nonsmoker, trier, or regular smoker, analyses revealed that triers were accurate regarding prevalence estimates of trying, whereas non‐smokers made gross underestimations and regular smokers made overestimations of trying. All groups of youths overestimated prevalence of weekly smoking. Analyses of variance revealed that both youths' smoking status and interpersonal smoking environment additively predicted prevalence estimates, and estimates of smoking prevalence were relatively higher in youths who began to smoke, or increased their levels of smoking, within the next year. Thus, previous assumptions were partially confirmed. Future research and prevention programming should focus more on regular smoking as the focus of normative smoking distortion effects and correction efforts.

Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost—United States, 1984

Smoking is a leading cause of diseases associated with premature mortality in the United States; in 1985, these diseases accounted for an estimated 390,000 premature deaths. In this report, mortality data and estimates of smoking prevalence for 1988 are used to calculate smoking-attributable mortality (SAM), years of potential life lost (YPLL), and age-adjusted SAM and YPLL rates for the United States. Calculations were performed using Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Cost (SAMMEC II) software, which includes relative risk estimates for 22 adult (i.e., greater than or equal to 35 years of age) smoking-related diseases and relative risk estimates for four perinatal (i.e., less than 1 year of age) conditions. Age-, sex-, and race-specific mortality data for 1988 were obtained from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. Data on burn deaths caused by cigarettes were obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The estimated number of deaths among nonsmokers from lung cancer attributable to passive smoking was obtained from a report of the National Academy of Sciences. Age-, sex-, and race-specific current and former smoking prevalence rates in 1988 for adults aged greater than or equal to 35 years and for women aged 18-44 years were estimated by linear extrapolation using National Health Interview Survey data for 1974-1987.

The False Consensus Effect in Estimates of Smoking Prevalence

The current study investigated four possible causal mechanisms underlying the false consensus effect in the context of cigarette smoking. Little support was found for attributional or conformity-based mechanisms. However, support for both a selective exposure and a motivational explanation was found.

Predicting Adolescents' Intentions to Smoke Cigarettes

Adolescents' intentions to smoke cigarettes are predicted by Ajzen and Fishbein's (1970) model and by the distal variables derivedfrom Jessor and Jessor's (1977) problem-behavior theory, as well as by several other variables relevant to cigarette smoking. The Ajzen and Fishbein model is found to have significant predictive ability for all smoking statuses in both middle-school and high-school subjects. The Jessor and Jessor distal variables also have significant predictive ability for all smoking statuses in the two groups, but account for less of the variance in behavioral intentions. Additionally, except for subjects who smoke, the distal variables are found to add only a small amount of explained variance in the behavioral intentions to the Ajzen and Fishbein model when the two sets of variables are combined in hierarchical regressions. Subjects' estimates of smoking prevalence, health beliefs, and number offriends who smoke are also found to bear some relation to smoking intentions. The discussion of results is directed toward the prevention of initiating cigarette smoking. Suggestions are made about tailoring prevention programs to the characteristics of the adolescents at risk.