In a recent study published in BMJ Public HealthResearchers are investigating the factors motivating smokers to quit between 2018 and 2023.
study: Trends in motivations to quit smoking: Population survey in the UK, 2018-2023. Image credit: fongbeerredhot / Shutterstock.com
How has COVID-19 affected your smoking habits?
People attempt to quit smoking for a variety of reasons, including health concerns, social issues, expense, and guidance from medical professionals. Like many other people around the world, people living in England are experiencing the global coronavirus pandemic and have national health and financial challenges, which may be a motivator for them to quit smoking. may be affecting.
Understanding time-based and demographic differences in the variables that motivate individuals to quit is important for developing treatments that support smoking cessation.
About research
In the current study, researchers examine changes in quit attempts over the past five years, focusing on health concerns, costs, social factors, and guidance from health professionals. The effects of age, gender, socio-economic level, e-cigarette use status, and number of offspring on these changes were also assessed.
Data comes from the Smoking Toolkit Study, a national cross-sectional survey of adult UK residents from 2018 to 2023. The study included 5,777 previous year smokers who had attempted to quit at least once in the previous year.
Changes in the proportion of quit attempts caused by health-related concerns, social characteristics, expenses, and medical professional advice were measured and used to calculate prevalence rates to account for variation in prevalence over the study period. I did.
These data were obtained using computer-assisted interviews before the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Later it was obtained by telephone.
Descriptive data were provided on motivation to quit, averaged over the study period. Furthermore, we analyzed the data using log-binomial regression, also considering possible mediating factors such as age, gender, occupational social class, number of children in the family, and presence of e-cigarettes.
Sensitivity analyzes examining current and future health concerns were also conducted to identify differences.
research result
Of the 101,919 people who participated in the study, 96% provided information about attempts to quit in the past year, and 34% reported making at least one serious attempt to quit. The most frequently mentioned motive for 52% of the study cohort was health-related concerns, particularly future health-related concerns at 36%.
Financial concerns were the second most common motive, followed by social considerations and recommendations from health professionals at 23%, 19%, and 12%, respectively, while other motives were endorsed by 0.6–3.7% of individuals. did.
By 2020, the proportion of quitters citing health-related concerns, social considerations, and cost had increased to 56%, 24%, and 26%, respectively. The proportion of health professionals providing guidance decreased to 8%. However, the proportion of health-related and social motivations decreased significantly below baseline levels from >50% to 16% and 22%, respectively.
Health issues are consistently cited as the most common reason for attempting to quit smoking, with these factors cited by 48-56% of individuals across all demographics. These factors were more frequently reported by individuals over the age of 35 and those without children at home.
Older people, women, and people of lower socio-economic status were more likely to cite current health problems as a motivating factor. Those without children at home were more likely to be motivated by current and future health problems.
Those in the middle socio-economic class and those who actively smoked e-cigarettes were more likely to report cost as a motive for quitting. Young people from middle-class families, those with children, and those who currently smoked e-cigarettes were more likely to report social motivation. Women of lower socio-economic class and younger ages were more likely to follow the advice of their health care professionals to quit smoking.
Overall, there was minimal change in quit attempts prompted by health problems over the study period. However, the proportion of individuals who expressed a health problem as a reason for a recent quit effort increased in 2020, peaking at 56% in October 2020, and returning to baseline by December 2021.
This trend was primarily influenced by upcoming health issues, with current health issues causing slight changes in attempts to quit smoking over time.
conclusion
Health concerns continue to be the most common reason for quitting smoking. However, since 2020, the focus has been on cost rather than social considerations and healthcare provider recommendations.
These changes may be due to the increased health concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among the elderly and those in lower occupational and social categories. The increased cost of smoking is also an important motivator for quitting, highlighting that future savings may facilitate quit efforts.
Future research is needed to investigate why efforts are hampered and develop improved solutions based on the guidance of health professionals.
Reference magazines:
- Jackson, S.E., Cox, S., Bass, V., other. (2024). Trends in motivations to quit smoking: Population survey in the UK, 2018-2023. BMJ Public Health. doi:10.1136/bmjph-2023-000420
