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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Smoking behaviour and socio-economic status
— a cohort analysis, 1974 to 1998 | | Author(s) | Maria Evandrou, Jane Falkingham |
| Journal title | Health Statistics Quarterly, no 14, Summer 2002 |
| Pages | pp 30-39 |
| Keywords | Tobacco smoking ; Economic status [elderly] ; Death rate [statistics] ; Cross sectional surveys. |
| Annotation | Smoking is widely recognised as a major contributor to disease and premature death. As smoking behaviour varies by socio-economic status, it is also a major contributor to the persistence of health inequalities in Britain. This paper uses data from the General Household Survey (GHS) from 1974 to 1998, to examine trends in the prevalence of cigarette smoking by age, gender and socio-economic status. Patterns of smoking are examined both cross-sectionally and by birth cohort, allowing insight into the dynamics of smoking over the life-cycle and across time. Findings indicate that the overall prevalence of smoking at any age is lower amongst successive birth cohorts, and smoking cessation is occurring at earlier ages. However, there is a clear difference in smoking by socio-economic group within cohorts, with a higher proportion smoking amongst manual than non-manual occupations, and this class effect appears to be widening within successive younger cohorts. This suggests that although overall deaths from smoking are falling, inequalities in smoking-related diseases and deaths look likely to persist well into the 21st century. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-020530204 A |
| Classmark | ETT: F:W: S5: 3KB |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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