The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7331 p6
1/8 January 2005

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Smoking levels drop in England but remain stable across Britain

Overall, smoking prevalence in Great Britain was the same last year as it was the year before that, with 26 per cent of adults smoking cigarettes, recent Government figures show.

However, figures for England alone reveal a reduction of 400,000 smokers over the past year (1 per cent). For the year 2003/04 smoking prevalence was higher in Scotland (31 per cent) than in Wales (27 per cent) and England (25 per cent).
Furthermore, since publication of the “Smoking kills” White Paper in 1998, the number of smokers in England has decreased by 1.2 million (3 per cent), while remaining fairly stable in Scotland and Wales.

Regarding alcohol consumption, the statistics show that last year 40 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women had exceeded Government guidelines on sensible drinking on at least one occasion the previous week, figures that have changed little since 1998. Heavy drinking in men, defined as over eight units per day, rose from 21 per cent in 2002/03 to 23 per cent in 2003/04. Heavy drinking in women, defined as over six units per day, remained fairly consistent with previous years, at 9 per cent. The figures are part of the Government’s General Household Survey.

Also published recently is a survey showing that British teenagers rate among the highest in Europe for levels of alcohol consumption and illicit drug taking.

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) collected data from 15–16 year olds in 35 countries and found that UK teenagers are in the highest groups for most of the alcohol-related indicators.

In the UK, 91 per cent of teenagers said they had drunk alcohol in the past 12 months, compared with the average of 83 per cent for all countries surveyed. Moreover, 68 per cent of UK teenagers admitted being drunk over the past year, compared with the average of 53 per cent.

In addition, use of marijuana was reported by 38 per cent of UK teenagers (average 21 per cent). However, compared to other European countries, lifetime prevalence of smoking cigarettes was lower than average (58 per cent versus 66 per cent) and the use of tranquillisers or sedatives without a prescription was less than half the average (2 versus 6 per cent).