A new report based on data and information drawn from various sources has revealed that there have been fewer deaths because of smoking in the UK in 2013 as compared to 2003.
The report, which also contains data and information previously published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, also intends to provide a broad picture of health issues relating to smoking in England including topics such as smoking prevalence, habits, behaviours and attitudes among adults and school children, smoking-related ill health and mortality and smoking-related costs.
According to the report, deaths in England in 2013 among adults aged 35 and over accounted for 17 per cent of all deaths as compared to 19 per cent in 2003.
The report found that nearly one in five adults in Great Britain (19 per cent) aged 16 and over were smokers in 2013, a rate that although slightly less than 2012, has remained largely unchanged in recent years, compared to just over one in four (26 per cent) a decade earlier in 2003.
As far as those between 11 and 15 are concerned, in 2013 less than a quarter of pupils reported that they had tried smoking at least once. At 22 per cent, this is the lowest level recorded since the data were first collected in 1982, and continues the decline since 2003, when 42 per cent of pupils had tried smoking.
Over the course of last decade, the price of tobacco has increased by 87 per cent making it 30 per cent less affordable.
In 2013/14 there were over 1.6 million admissions for adults aged 35 and over with a primary diagnosis of a disease that can be caused by smoking. This is approximately 4,500 admissions per day on average. This compares to 1.4 million admissions ten years earlier in 2003/04 with approximately 3,800 admissions per day on average.
Around 454,700 hospital admissions were estimated to be attributable to smoking. This accounts for 4 per cent of all hospital admissions in this age group (35 years and over). This compares to 447,300 admissions in 2003/04 which was 6 per cent of all admissions.
The proportion of admissions attributable to smoking as a percentage of all admissions was greater amongst men (6 per cent) than women (3 per cent).
