title: Parental smoking and child poverty in the UK: an analysis of national survey data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2011/12 approximately 2.3 million children, 17% of children in the UK, were estimated to be in relative poverty. Cigarette smoking is expensive and places an additional burden on household budgets, and is strongly associated with socioeconomic deprivation. The aim of this study was to provide an illustrative first estimate of the extent to which parental smoking exacerbates child poverty in the UK.
  
  
  METHODS
  Findings from the 2012 Households Below Average Income report and the 2012 Opinions and Lifestyle Survey were combined to estimate the number of children living in poor households containing smokers; the expenditure of typical smokers in these households on tobacco; and the numbers of children drawn into poverty if expenditure on smoking is subtracted from household income.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1.1 million children - almost half of all children in poverty - were estimated to be living in poverty with at least one parent who smokes; and a further 400,000 would be classed as being in poverty if parental tobacco expenditure were subtracted from household income.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Smoking exacerbates poverty for a large proportion of children in the UK. Tobacco control interventions which effectively enable low income smokers to quit can play an important role in reducing the financial burden of child poverty.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. mzycb2@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Charmaine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belvin
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. j.britton@outlook.com.|UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Nottingham, UK. j.britton@outlook.com.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.affiliation: UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Nottingham, UK. john.holmes@sheffield.ac.uk.|School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. john.holmes@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. tessa.langley@nottingham.ac.uk.|UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Nottingham, UK. tessa.langley@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Tessa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Langley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom