Tobacco.org

• Not enough done to prevent smoking, RCSI report finds  

IRELAND HAS become complacent about its smoking cessation achievements, with evidence that advice on giving up smoking was offered to just half of smokers who were seen by a primary care health professional, a report to be published today has found.

The analysis of data from the recent SLÁN national survey of Lifestyle Attitudes and Nutrition by the Division of Population Health Science at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) confirms that a previous downward trend in smoking rates has stalled.

Researchers, led by Prof Ruairí Brugha of RCSI, report smoking rates higher than the national average of 29 per cent in a number of occupational health groups. They found a particularly high rate of smoking in 18-29 year old women in social class 5 and 6 which, at 56 per cent, is double the rate found among women in the same age group in social classes 1 and 2.

Commenting on the relative lack of access to smoking prevention programmes in the country, Prof Brugha said, “a high percentage of smokers, at 72 per cent, who were interviewed in 2007 had attended a GP in the previous year, while only 38 per cent of smokers reported that a doctor or health professional had discussed ways of giving up smoking with them”.

Jump to full article »