Pricing Policies And Control of Tobacco in Europe (PPACTE) project: cross-national comparison of smoking prevalence in 18 European countries.
Limited data on smoking prevalence allowing valid between-country comparison are available in Europe. The aim of this study is to provide data on smoking prevalence and its determinants in 18 European countries. In 2010, within the Pricing Policies And Control of Tobacco in Europe (PPACTE) project, we conducted a face-to-face survey on smoking in 18 European countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden) on a total of 18 056 participants, representative for each country of the population aged 15 years or older. Overall, 27.2% of the participants were current smokers (30.6% of men and 24.1% of women). Smoking prevalence was highest in Bulgaria (40.9%) and Greece (38.9%) and lowest in Italy (22.0%) and Sweden (16.3%). Smoking prevalence ranged between 15.7% (Sweden) and 44.3% (Bulgaria) for men and between 11.6% (Albania) and 38.1% (Ireland) for women. Multivariate analysis showed a significant inverse trend between smoking prevalence and the level of education in both sexes. Male-to-female smoking prevalence ratios ranged from 0.85 in Spain to 3.47 in Albania and current-to-ex prevalence ratios ranged from 0.68 in Sweden to 4.28 in Albania. There are considerable differences across Europe in smoking prevalence, and male-to-female and current-to-ex smoking prevalence ratios. Eastern European countries, lower income countries and those with less advanced tobacco control policies have less favourable smoking patterns and are at an earlier stage of the tobacco epidemic.
aDepartment of Epidemiology, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri' bDepartment of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan cDOXA Institute, Worldwide Independent Network/Gallup International Association (WIN/GIA), Milan, Italy dIchan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Institute for Translational Epidemiology and Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, New York eDepartment of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois fIntramural Research Department, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia gDepartment of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA hInternational Prevention Research Institute iSection of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France jDivision of Population Health Science, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland kTobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland, Dublin, Ireland lTobacco Control Unit, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Institut Català d'Oncologia - ICO mCancer Control and Prevention Group, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge - IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat nDepartment of Clinical Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain oInformation Services Division, NHS National Services, Edinburgh, Scotland pDepartment for Health & UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, University of Bath, Bath qDepartment of Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK rIndependent Legal Consultant in Public Health, Luxembourg city, Luxembourg sAssociation of the European Cancer Leagues & Foundation Against Cancer, Brussels, Belgium tCentre for Health and Social Economics - CHESS, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) uDepartment of Finance and Statistics, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland.
Silvano
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Gallus
Alessandra
A
Lugo
Carlo
C
La Vecchia
Paolo
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Boffetta
Frank J
FJ
Chaloupka
Paolo
P
Colombo
Laura
L
Currie
Esteve
E
Fernandez
Colin
C
Fischbacher
Anna
A
Gilmore
Fiona
F
Godfrey
Luk
L
Joossens
Maria E
ME
Leon
David T
DT
Levy
Lien
L
Nguyen
Gunnar
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Rosenqvist
Hana
H
Ross
Joy
J
Townsend
Luke
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Clancy
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult