Information embargoed until midnight on Sunday 25 June 2006
STOP SMOKING INITIATIVES COULD DO MORE
TO HELP THE POOR
Today (27th June 2006), speaking at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference, Dr Linda Bauld, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Glasgow, argues that more intensive help from stop smoking services is required if we are to bridge the ‘health gap’ between rich and poor in our society.
During the past 20 years the percentage of adult smokers in the UK has fallen significantly (from 35 per cent of the population to 27 per cent). However, this reduction in cigarette consumption is mainly within the higher income groups and there remains a wide divide - with lower social classes and those disadvantaged by area and housing continuing to smoke in larger numbers. For example, in more deprived areas of Glasgow up to 55 per cent of the population smoke compared to
20 per cent in the more affluent areas of the city.
“Smoking is still the leading cause of inequality in people’s health in this country and clearly we need better strategies to tackle the issue amongst those most disadvantaged in our society,” says Dr Bauld.
Research has shown that the more disadvantaged tend to smoke more cigarettes, leading to higher levels of addiction and increased ill-health effects from the toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke. As a consequence of this, the rates of cancer, heart disease and lung disease continue to be higher amongst low income groups in society.
Reasons include the fact that smoking is used by many as a mechanism for coping with problems, together with the fact that as smoking prevalence is higher in poorer communities, there are more cues to continue smoking and to relapse back to smoking. In addition, health information campaigns have often been less successful at ‘getting the message across’ in more disadvantaged communities.
Dr Bauld and colleagues conducted the national evaluation of NHS stop smoking services in England(1). They found that services have been successful in treating large numbers of smokers from more disadvantaged areas. This is a considerable achievement, as traditional health care services are often targeted at the more affluent rather than those who need support the most. However, they also found poorer smokers are less likely to be successful in their quit attempt than their more affluent neighbours. At one year, less than one in ten of the most deprived smokers had successfully quit smoking compared to almost one in five amongst the least deprived.
Dr Bauld argues that there is a need for more intensive approaches to help people stop smoking, backed up by better research to identify what needs to be done to help the disadvantaged quit. “We need increased resources to continue to expand and improve stop smoking services, we need flexibility in how we help people, and we need to combine that with easy access to effective treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy.” says Dr Bauld.
-ends-
Editors notes:
- The UK National Smoking Cessation Conference (UKNSCC) is the world’s largest annual gathering of smoking cessation practitioners. Held at the Sage Gateshead conference centre, this year, it runs over two days – Monday 26 June and Tuesday 27 June. Every year the conference attracts speakers from Europe, the US and New Zealand.
For more information visit www.uknscc.org
- (1) “Smoking treatment services in England: implementation and outcomes” Addiction Vol. 100 Supp. 2 April 2005.
- The Government currently spends around £30m on anti-smoking education campaigns. A further £41m is spent on measures to help people stop smoking. (ASH)
- Speakers are available for interviews and filming.
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