Socio-demographic variation in smoking habits: Italy, 2008.
OBJECTIVE
To provide updated information on smoking prevalence in Italy, with a focus on demographic and socio-economic characteristics.


METHODS
The survey was conducted during March-April 2008 on a sample of 3035 individuals (1459 men and 1576 women) aged 15 years or over representative of the Italian population in terms of age, sex, geographic area, and socio-economic characteristics.


RESULTS
In 2008, 22.0% (95% confidence interval, CI: 20.5-23.5) of Italians described themselves as current cigarette smokers (26.4% of men, 17.9% of women); ex-smokers were 18.4% (95% CI: 17.0-19.8; 24.1% of men, 13.2% of women). By the year 2012 the number of former could exceed that of current smokers. Smoking prevalence in the young (15-24 years) was around 30% in males, and almost 20% in females. For both sexes, current smoking was less prevalent in higher (22.9% of men, 20.1% of women) than in lower educated participants (34.8% of men, 22.1% of women), and in northern (22.5% of men, 16.1% of women) than southern Italy (31.8% of men, 18.4% of women).


CONCLUSIONS
In 2008, smoking prevalence was the lowest observed over the last 50 years, in Italy. However, part of the fall is likely due to increased under-reporting, since these survey figures are appreciably under-estimated as compared to sale data. Subjects with less privileged socio-economic characteristics should be considered target populations for tobacco control.
Tramacere
Irene
I
Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Via Giuseppe La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy.
Gallus
Silvano
S
Zuccaro
Piergiorgio
P
Colombo
Paolo
P
Rossi
Silvia
S
Boffetta
Paolo
P
La Vecchia
Carlo
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012923:Social Class; D055815:Young Adult