[Tobacco use in Spanish women]

Tobacco consumption among Spanish women has increased dramatically during the last 40 years, rapidly closing the gap between men and women in cigarette-smoking prevalence. This has already happened in the younger age group, in which the proportion of young women smoking is reaching that of young men. This pattern has been evidenced in several surveys carried out at the regional and country levels. The younger generation of Spanish women, together with its counterparts in France and the Netherlands, has one of the highest prevalences of tobacco consumption (49%) in the EEC, considerably higher than the corresponding average for the EEC as a whole (39%). In Spain, a female smoker tends to be young, educated and in the upper-income level. Applying the standard attributable-risk approach, it has been estimated that in 1986 approximately 8,000 female deaths resulted from cigarette smoking in Spain, representing about 6% of all female deaths, with the majority being due to diseases of the circulatory system. Between 1980 and 1987, female hospital admissions due to lung cancer increased more than a 100%. In forthcoming years in Spain, one can expect a dramatic increase in the absolute number of female deaths caused by smoking-related diseases, due to the increase in smokers among the young generations, who will eventually attain the ages at which smoking-related disease appear. This younger age group is comparable to male smokers, and as they move into their 60s and 70s, their risk of lung cancer and ischaemic heart disease will most likely come to resemble the risks for men smoking the same numbers of cigarettes today.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)