Poor People Consume More Tobacco
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Following a new scientific study, German researchers at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), in Berlin, report a new correlation between the wealth status of a person and the amount of cigarettes he or she consumes. Social status was also found to be a clear indicator of how much tobacco a person smoked each day, the same paper discovered. Other health-related risk factors were also taken into account, including obesity, physical inactivity and long-term smoking. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the scientific journal Deutsches Arzteblatt International, AlphaGalileo reports.
What the research team tried to do was basically determine the extent of the correlations that existed between these risk factors and social status. The group determined that, “Persons of low social status should be an important target group for preventing and health-promoting measures, both in health policy and medical practice.” It went on to say that, “In Germany, it was demonstrated empirically as early as the 1980s that persons of low social status smoke more commonly, have lower levels of physical and sporting activity, and are more often overweight or obese.”
The new investigation relied on data collected during the 2003 Telephone Health Survey, which was conducted on a representative population sample of about 8,318 individuals aged 18 or more.
All of the respondents were asked questions about their smoking status, degree of physical activity, height, and weight, among other such risk factors. By analyzing the participants’ statements on education, occupation, and net household income, the researchers were also able to establish the social status of each individual. They then proceeded to correlate the two sets of data, in an attempt to discover if any statistical connections existed.
Government campaigns aimed at persuading people to stop drinking and smoking have little or no effect on poorer people, it was claimed yesterday.
Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology at University College London, said those on low wages or benefits ignore the health warnings.
He added that campaigns to force people to quit are “pointless” and “counter-productive” because better-educated people had already heeded the warning and given up.
Following Government campaigns to educate the public on the dangers of smoking, there has been a sharp drop in middle- and upper-class smokers.
However, among the working class, 42 per cent of unskilled workers still smoke.
Despite high taxes, 55 per cent of single mothers smoke and among hard-drug users the figure is “practically 100 per cent”.
He said: “People at the lower end of the social spectrum are not listening to these messages because of the continued social inequalities.
“It’s not because they haven’t heard, or don’t know that smoking is bad for you, it is because, on their list of priorities, giving up smoking is way down and they have to turn their attention to more immediate matters.”
He said what was needed was not big campaigns but an in-depth look at what was at the root of poverty and these continued inequalities.
“People know that smoking is bad for you and a lot of middle-class people have found the willpower to give up.
“We have to ask why the same cannot be said for people at the lower end of the social spectrum.
“Simply conveying the message that smoking is bad for you isn’t the issue.”
He said he supported the smoking ban, due to come in on July 1, but added: “We really need to have a look at what is going on in these people’s lives if we are going to get them to stop smoking. Smoking has to be put in context when looking at the multiple disadvantages they face.”
Deborah Arnott, the director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said Prof Marmot’s concerns underlined why proposed exemptions to the ban should be scrapped.
She said: “They are looking at allowing smoking in exactly the sort of place the poorer people go, like pubs that do not serve food.
“If we are to protect these people’s health we have to fight these planned exemptions.”
They found that men of low social status were more likely to smoke, to be physically inactive, and also obese than men with higher social statuses. “For women, social status had just as large an effect on smoking and physical activity as it had in men, while its effect on obesity was even greater than in men,” the RKI researchers wrote in the journal entry. “As far as doctors are concerned, the findings regarding smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity strongly suggest that they should address these risk factors directly and advise their patients of the potential consequences for their health,” the team concluded.
By Nick Britten
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