Percentage Of Daily Smokers Research Articles

Attitudes towards smoking and COVID-19, and changes in smoking behaviors before and after the outbreak of COVID-19: A nationwide cross-sectional survey study in China.

INTRODUCTIONChina has more than 300 million current smokers. There is a controversy over smokers’ risk of COVID-19 infection. Smoking is a risk factor for COVID-19 disease progression, and the outbreak of COVID-19 may change people’s smoking behaviors. This study assessed people’s attitudes towards ‘smoking and COVID-19’ and changes of smoking behaviors before and after the outbreak of COVID-19.METHODSA cross-sectional web survey of 11009 adults in China was conducted between 7 May and 3 August 2020. Attitudes towards ‘smoking and COVID-19’ were compared among non-smokers (n=8837), ex-smokers (n=399) and current smokers (n=1773), and changes in smoking behaviors before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 were assessed among current smokers.RESULTSFewer current smokers (26.2%) agreed with the statement that ‘Current smokers are more likely than ex-smokers or non-smokers to contract COVID-19’ compared with non-smokers (53%) or ex-smokers (41.4%); fewer current smokers (55.9%) agreed with the statement ‘If contracted, current smokers are more likely than ex-smokers or non-smokers to risk disease progression’ compared with non-smokers (75.5%) or ex-smokers (68.7%). There were no changes in cigarettes smoked per day (mean ± SD: 13.3 ± 9.55 vs 13.4 ± 9.69, p=0.414), percentage of daily smokers (70.8% vs 71.1%, p=0.882) and percentage of smokers with motivation to quit (intend to quit within the next 6 months, 9.4% vs 10.9%, p=0.148) before and after the outbreak of COVID-19.CONCLUSIONSThe survey found that fewer current smokers agreed that smoking is a risk-factor for COVID-19 compared with non-smokers or ex-smokers. Among current smokers, there were no changes in their cigarette consumption and motivation to quit before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. More efforts are needed to educate smokers about the health risks of smoking, as well as efforts to promote their motivation to quit.

Nicotine Addiction : Objective in Educational Programs for Smoking Prevention in Young People

In those countries where education and smoking prevention campaigns are carried out at school level, there has been a decline in the prevalence of smoking among pupils. Nicotine addiction represents a sum of pharmacological, electrophysiological and molecular genetic mechanisms and behavior patterns. The study was conducted from December 2016, to July 2017 and it consisted in an online survey posted on a website. The participants accessed the survey through an e mail link. The study population consisted of 1144 teachers (from primary school, gymnasium and college). The declared percentage of daily smokers was 14%, below the European average, while 20.5% were declared ex-smokers, 11.2% were occasional smokers and 54.4% never smoked. The theme of smoking was approached by 79.2% of teachers during conducting classes and 81.6% of them advised smokers to stop smoking. Teachers can influence the pupils� behavior by personal example and by teaching, inside and outside the school, thus preventing nicotine addiction. Decreasing the prevalence of smoking among teachers will inevitably lead in the future to a decrease of adolescent smokers� incidence. Our study was a pilot project that can draw important directions in educational and preventive campaigns in schools.

Behavioral Health Risk Factors: the Interaction of Personal and Country Effects.

This study investigated the relationship between the individual's self-assessed health status (SAHS) and health-risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity), in 16 European countries. The associations were studied for the individual and for the country measures-and in particular, for the unexplored aspect of interaction between individual and country levels of the three risk factors. Data for 47,114 adults, who participated in the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement Europe (SHARE), were analyzed using Multilevel Regression Analysis. The individual data were complemented by OECD data that provided country-specific risk measures: percentage of daily smokers, annual per-capita consumption of alcohol (liters), and percentage of obese individuals. We found that the individual's SAHS is negatively associated with smoking and with weight-risk factors and is positively associated with her/his alcohol consumption. The most pronounced associations relate to the weight variables, albeit they are attenuated in countries with higher percentages of obese individuals. Significant differences across countries were evidenced in the association between SAHS and smoking and between SAHS and alcohol consumption. Individual health levels are associated with individual risk factors and also with the behaviors in the country. Significant interactions might indicate that psychological factors are at work.

Factors Associated with the Differences in Migraine Prevalence Rates between Spanish Regions

We have analyzed the relation of prevalence rates in Spanish regions with a series of human, environmental, and ecological factors. We find that the variability in migraine rates found between Spanish regions may be explained by interregional differences in the percentage of daily smokers, percentage of alcohol consumers, percentage of population presenting physical and/or psychological life-limiting conditions, percentage of population engaging in physical exercise, minimum absolute temperatures per year, number of days under 0°C per year, and altitude.

Softening of monthly cigarette use in youth and the need to harden measures in surveillance

ObjectiveTo assess changes in monthly smoking in its relationship to daily smoking and heavier smoking in high school seniors. Public health agencies often report only “current use” of cigarettes among youth as any use in the past 30days, even though additional measures are collected. Monthly use is a crude and changing indicator. MethodsResults from 1975 to 2013 from Monitoring The Future Project were plotted and analyzed by linear regression. ResultsFrom 1975 to 2013, the percentage of monthly smokers who smoked daily decreased by 29% (21.2 percentage points) and monthly smokers who smoked 10+ cigarettes/day dropped by 57% (28 percentage points); the percentage of daily smokers who smoked 10+ cigarettes/day decreased by 40% (26.5 percentage points). ConclusionAdditional measures of frequency and intensity of use of cigarettes and other tobacco/nicotine products need to be more regularly reported. These results indicate softening rather than hardening of “current smoking” and have important implications for tobacco surveillance and for tobacco research because of a) increased likelihood of quitting smoking, b) health effects of cigarette smoking, and c) similar and interacting issues related to measuring the use of all tobacco/nicotine products.

Tendencias del tabaquismo en adultos en México entre 1988 y 2008

To describe the changes in several smoking indicators occurred in Mexico over the past two decades and to explore if the tobacco control policies implemented in Mexico, since 2004, show a favorable impact on tobacco consumption by 2008. We analyze trends in comparable data on the prevalence of never and daily smokers, using the five National Addiction Surveys conducted between 1988 and 2008. The analysis is restricted to persons aged 18 through 65 years. Data are adjusted for age, sex and marginality index. Between 2002 and 2008 the percentage of never smokers has increased by 19.6% and the percentage of daily smokers has decreased by 24.8%. These changes were more important in men, but in women the average number of cigarettes consumed decreased by 21.1% over the compared period and there was also a 13.9% rise in the percentage of women attempting to quit. Daily smokers prevalence has declined more rapidly since 2005, coincidently with an increase in cigarette taxation. Over the past two decades there has been in Mexico an increase in the percentage of never smokers and a decline in the percentage of daily smokers. A positive impact is observed, few years after the implementation of more effective tobacco control policies in Mexico, notably higher taxation of tobacco products.

Smoking Habits among Teachers in Primary Schools in Norway 1977

Abstract Seip, A.K. 1982. Smoking Habits Among Teachers in Primary Schools in Norway 1977. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 26, 183‐195. A representative sample (N = 1988) of members of the two main teachers’ organizations in Norway, the Norwegian Teachers’ Association and the Association of Secondary School Teachers, were mailed a questionnaire in the spring of 1977 regarding their past and present smoking habits, and 92 % responded. The percentage of daily smokers among the teachers was approximately half of that found in the general population. Also in recent years the decline in smoking among teachers has been greater than in the general population. Answers given to questions concerning reasons for stopping smoking as well as certain attitudinal indicators show that the teachers’ reduction in smoking is related to their professional involvement and comparatively high level of knowledge about the health hazards of smoking.

Smoking habits among Norwegian doctors 1974.

In the spring of 1974 a representative sample (N = 1200) of all doctors in Norway (6 000) received a mailed questionnaire regarding past and present smoking habits. Close to 95% responded. Among late responders there was a disproportionately high number of smokers. As compared with the general population, both male and female doctors constitute a small proportion of daily smokers and a large proportion of exsmokers. The greatest contrasts are observed in the younger age groups. The percentage of daily smokers in this crossectional study on the medical profession is approximately 50% lower than that found in the 1952--53 study on Norwegian doctors. There is also a shift away from cigarette smoking toward the use of pipe and cigars, which is not found in the general population. Answers to questions regarding reasons for quitting as well as certain attitudinal indicators show that the doctors' reduction in smoking is related to their professional involvement and high level of knowledge concerning the health consequences of smoking.