Decennial trends of social differentials in smoking habits in Italy

To present social trends of smoking habits in Italy during the period 1980-1994.

Data from five national health surveys (1980, 1983, 1986-1987, 1990-1991, 1994) were analyzed in order to calculate smoking prevalences. Education attained was used as social class indicator.

SDPs (prevalence rate standardized on the 1981 Italian population) and PRs (prevalence ratios primary school/degree). Confidence intervals and p-values were calculated as indicators of statistical significance.

Among men SDP decreased from 59.5% in 1980 to 37.3% in 1994 and PRs for social classes varied from 1.21 in 1980 to 1.47 in 1994. Corresponding results for women were 17.9% to 20.0% and 0.36 to 0.73.

Lower-educated men smoke more than those in higher social categories, and data collected during 1980-1994 in Italy show a tendency to increase such differentials. Among women this pattern was the opposite in 1980, with a tendency to reduce differences over time. Therefore, for both genders data show a progressive disadvantage for the low-educated categories. The greater compliance of better-educated groups with anti-smoking interventions must be taken into account, and should suggest "unequal" interventions that can be more effective among disadvantaged social groups.