According to the results of a cross-sectional study published in the British Journal of General Practice, there was a ‘significant and important’ increase in the recording of smoking status and issuing of smoking cessation advice by general practice in the UK between April 2001 and April 2007.  Although overall the number of UK smokers (with a recorded smoking status) reduced by 6% over this time frame, comparatively high rates of smoking remain among younger adults and those who are the most socioeconomically deprived.

This study, building on previous work with the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, sought to investigate the epidemiology of smoking in UK general practice.  Specifically the researchers wanted to confirm a recent acceleration in smoking reduction found using survey data, and also describe the recording of smoking status, provision of smoking advice, and referral to specialist stop-smoking services in patients registered in primary care in the UK.  They also sought to investigate whether these trends differed between sex, age, and deprivation groups.

Data from the QRESEARCH database were used for this study - this database contains health data derived from 525 general practices, which are considered broadly representative of primary care practices in the UK.  Data on approximately 2.7 million patients who were registered on April 1st each year between 2001-2007 (and aged 16 years or above) were extracted, including, age, sex, deprivation, and smoking status. For patients newly recorded as smoking, data were extracted on receipt of smoking cessation advice and referral to stop-smoking services.

The main findings were as follows (taken from the abstract):

• Over the study period, the proportion of people with smoking status recorded increased by 32.9% (2001/2002: 46.6% to 2006/2007: 79.5%).
• There were increases in the provision of smoking cessation advice (2001/2002: 43.6% to 2006/2007: 84.0%) and referral to stop-smoking services (2001/2002: 1.0% to 2006/2007: 6.6%).
• The proportion of people who smoked (with a recorded smoking status) reduced by 6.0% (2001/2002: 28.4% to 2006/2007: 22.4%). This decrease was greatest among patients in the most deprived areas (7.2%) and the youngest patients (16-25 years: 7.1%).
• In 2006/2007, more than twice as many patients in deprived areas smoked as those in affluent areas (most deprived: 33.8%; most affluent: 14.1%).

The authors comment that “there is a continued need to focus greater resources and efforts on targeting the prevention of smoking uptake in children and adolescents and providing more resources for smoking cessation services aimed at younger and socioeconomically-deprived adults.”