Stoppen-met-roken campagnes niet effectief

Stoppen-met-roken campagnes hebben nauwelijks effect, zo is ook uit recente publicatie van een Brits onderzoek gebleken. Al jarenlang schommelt het percentage rokers in Groot Brittanie zo rond de 27 à 28 procent.

“Despite intensive government anti-tobacco campaigning and cigarette health warnings, the number of smokers has dropped by just one per cent over a three-year period, a survey reveals today. Some 27% of people in Great Britain were smokers in 2001, compared with 28% in 1998, according to a government national statistics survey.”

Living in Britain – the 2001 general household survey – was based on interviews of 21,180 people, and also shows young people are more prolific smokers, with 37% of 20 to 24-years-olds and 34% of 25 to 34-year-olds smoking, compared with 29% of 35 to 49-year-olds.

Although smoking fell substantially during the 1970s and 1980s – from 45% in 1974 to 35% in 1982 – the rate of decline decreased until the early 1990s, levelling out to 27-28%.

The survey also reveals manual workers are more likely to smoke than managers and professionals, with rates of 33% and 19% respectively.

Living in Britain – the 2001 General Household Survey, which collated information on a number of key private household topics, also reveals men continue to drink on average more alcohol than women and are twice as likely to be heavy drinkers.

The survey found 75% of men drink alcohol in a week’s period, compared with 59% of women.

Moreover, 39% of men, compared with 22% of women, had exceeded a daily “sensible drinking benchmark”, defined as three to four units for men and two to three per day for women. One unit is equivalent to half a pint of beer or a glass of wine.

Two-fifths of men drink more than four units at least once a week, and this rate does not vary across socio-economic classes.

However, 26% of women managers and professionals drank more than three units once a week, which is 6% more than women from other socio-economic classes.

The survey also reveals that young women are drinking significantly more. The number of women aged 16-24 consuming more than 14 units of alcohol per week has shot up from 17% in 1992 to 31% in 2001.

The survey also supports the stereotype that Scots are more likely to be drinkers.

It finds that 28% of men living in Scotland drank more than eight units of alcohol – the equivalent of four pints – at least one day a week. This compares with 21% of men in England, and 20% of men in Wales.

There was a similar pattern among women in Scotland where 13% drank more than six units at least one day a week, compared with 9% of women in England and 11% in Wales.