title: [Socioeconomic differences and smoking: clear connections with implications for tobacco policy].
abstract: - Smoking is more common among people with a lower educational level, professional qualifications and income. This is a major contributor to inequalities in health and mortality.- Inequalities in smoking appear to have their origin in early adolescence. Later in life these inequalities increase due to differences in smoking cessation between higher and lower socioeconomic status groups.- The inequalities in smoking cessation have already been explained in great detail. The close association between smoking and a lower level of education during adolescence is much less clear.- Evaluation of tobacco control measures has shown differences in effectiveness between groups of higher and lower socioeconomic status.- There are possibilities to allow measures to control tobacco to be more effective in groups of a lower socioeconomic status. Higher taxes on tobacco products should be accompanied by better access to professional help to stop smoking.- For the early recognition of unforeseen reactions, structural control measures should be monitored.
authors.affiliation: Academisch Medisch Centrum/Universiteit van Amsterdam, afd. Sociale Geneeskunde, Amsterdam.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kunst
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011640:Public Policy; D012907:Smoking; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014026:Nicotiana