Tobacco: consumption has halved in the space of 20 years for men

In men, tobacco use has halved in the space of 20 years, according to an analysis conducted at the French Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif), published in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH), on the occasion of National No Tobacco Day.

This work is based on the analysis of data from sales of 1900-2003 from Altadis (ex Seita) and those from surveys.

In 1915, the male population smoked about one cigarette per day, three in 1935, five cigarettes in 1950 and nine in 1980. In 2003, she smokes a little less than 5 cigarettes. The female population, meanwhile, was smoking a cigarette a day in 1965, three in 1985 and 3.5 cigarettes between 1990 and 2000 in 2003 and smokes a little more than three cigarettes. Consumption has decreased by 50% for men since 1980 and this decline seems to begin now women.

The entry of women into smoking occurred exactly 50 years later than men. Moreover, the maxima are observed in men just after the Veil law and women, just after the Evin law.

On rolled cigarettes, consumption has declined dramatically from 1950 to 1991, from 5 cigarettes per man per day to 0.3. She then more than doubled to 0.7 cigarettes per man per day in 2003. In women, the consumption was practically zero until 1991, then increased to 0.2 cigarettes per day in 2000 and 2003.

From the surveys, the data are somewhat different. Indeed, in the male population, it is observed a significant exposure reduction between 1953 and 1967, stabilizing until 1986, then a significant reduction until 2003. In women, stability is observed between 1953 and 1967, and a rapid increase between 1967 and 1986, followed again by a stabilization between 1986 and 2003.

"If you work from sales data and those surveys, cigarette consumption in men increases until 1980 to halve then. Conversely, the study results from surveys only shows a decline in the proportion of regular smokers since 1953. Both indicators therefore lead to a very different description of the evolution, "say the authors.

According to them, take into account the proportion of smokers reported ignores changes in the number of cigarettes per smoker. However, it varies from 11 to 17 for men and 4-13 for women. "In fact, using the proportion of smokers reported, it is concluded that a significant reduction of exposure among men between 1953 and 1967, quite inconsistent with the observed increase in sales during this period. Moreover, this situation leads to underestimate the importance of the reduction of male consumption halved between 1991 and 2003, as well as the timeliness and importance of the entry of women in smoking between 1953 and 1991, thus reducing considerably the differences behavior of both sexes, "they note.

On entry into the smoking, the gap 50 years Gender found in France appears very similar to that observed in the United Kingdom, the authors continue. "However, they note, the highest consumption was recorded about 20 years later in France, the United Kingdom and the United States: in 1980 versus 1960 for men and 1995 for women versus 1975."

The work they perform will allow to relate consumption by sex and mortality for major tobacco-related causes, especially deaths from lung cancer.

Thus, to explain and predict the evolution of tobacco-related diseases, it is necessary to have consumption in the general population and not only among smokers. "In this context, it is important to estimate cigarette consumption by sex correcting survey results based on sales," the authors conclude.