Prevalence of smoking in a diabetic population: the need for action

Smoking habits in insulin-treated diabetics in Nottinghamshire (UK) and clinic-attending diabetics in Nottingham have been analysed. Compared with the general population, the prevalence of current cigarette smoking is significantly less (p less than 0.001) in both diabetic men and women older than 50 years. Fewer diabetic men over 60 years have ever smoked than in the general population (p less than 0.001) but this finding does not apply to diabetic women. While intervention probably plays some part in this lower prevalence, the most likely explanation is the multiplicative effect of both smoking and diabetes to produce high mortality risks. Actuarial analysis of insulin-treated clinic attenders diagnosed after 1970 showed that at most 14% (95% confidence interval [Cl] 9-18%) of the 183 who smoked at diagnosis had given up 5 years later while a minimum of 8% (95% Cl, 6-11%) of the 313 who were non-smokers had started smoking. Information about the patterns of smoking in patients with chronic disease is incomplete and it appears that too little is being done in clinical services which provide long-term management for these patients to either discourage smoking or determine why some patients give up smoking but others do not.