Research published today has attempted to quantify how many
children start smoking ever year in the UK. Using data from the Smoking
Drinking and Drug Use Survey the study compared smoking rates for 11 to 15
year olds between the latest two years of the survey. This gave an estimate of 207,000
children starting smoking every year across the whole of the U.K.
Incorporating data on adult smoking prevalence, the study was also able to break
this estimate down by Local Authority, so that public health attention can be
appropriately focused at the local level.
Although there is some uncertainty around these estimates, they
represent our current best guess of the uptake of a leading cause of death,
which has even more serious health
impacts if started in childhood. Although smoking prevalence has declined in
the last 30 years, this
trend may be stalling and these estimates should add weight to calls for stronger
action on smoking, and contribute to the current
review on standardised packaging for cigarettes.
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