Trends in smoking prevalence from 1974 to 1986 in young adults in The Netherlands.
Data of two screening projects for cardiovascular risk factors were used to analyse trends in smoking behaviour in the Netherlands between 1974 and 1986. In 1974-1980 about 30,000 men and women aged 37-43 years and in 1981-1986 about 80,000 men aged 33-37 years in five different towns were screened. Among men, smoking prevalence decreased significantly during the study period in three of the five towns and remained more or less constant in the other two. The decrease was stronger in 1974-1980 (ca. 2 percentage points per year) than in 1981-1986 (ca. 1 percentage point per year). Among women, smoking prevalence decreased at different rates in three of the towns and increased considerably in one town in the period 1974-1980. The smoking prevalence in 37-43 year old Dutch men and women amounted to 58-66% and 48-57% respectively in 1980. In 1986, the smoking prevalence was 48-58% in 33-37 year old men. Comparison with data from other countries showed that smoking prevalence among both men and women in the mid eighties was still high in the Netherlands.
Wijga
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Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
Smit
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HA
Kromhout
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D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends