In 2008, smoking prevalence in Yorkshire and the Humber was above the England average, at 25%. Based on a population of 4.2m aged 16+ (ONS estimates) this works out at 1.1m smokers in our region.
Tobacco use is the biggest preventable cause of death in England, causing 83,900 deaths in 2009. This chart shows the number of preventable deaths from smoking compared to other preventable causes. In Yorkshire and the Humber, smoking causes nearly 9,000 deaths a year in our region. (Health Profiles 2009)
Tobacco is linked to more than 200 diseases and is the primary cause of lung cancer and COPD. The number of people dying from smoking-related diseases is nearly five times the combined number of deaths from other preventable causes. Smoking kills half of all long-term users and is the biggest single cause of inequalities in death rates between the rich and poor in the UK.
Smoking poses a significant drain on NHS resources. In 2005, smoking cost the NHS £5.2bn per year compared to £3bn for conditions related to weight gain and obesity and £1bn for conditions related to lack of physical exercise.
The Department of Health launched a new national tobacco strategy, A smokefree future: a comprehensive tobacco control strategy for England in February 2010, which sets out aspirations to halve the number of adult smokers to one in ten by 2020, and reduce the number of children who take up smoking to negligible levels. The strategy sets out three overarching objectives to make significant progress towards a smokefree society:
1. To stop the inflow of young people recruited as smokers
2. To motivate and assist every smoker to quit
3. To protect families and communities form tobacco-related harm
Please click on the links below for further information:
Healthy Ambitions - staying healthy pathway
Reducing smoking pre, during and post-pregnancy: a report identifying eight actions to help reduce smoking pre-conception, during pregnancy and post-partum.
Tobacco Control Alliance toolkit: a framework for commissioners and providers to assess their local tobacco control alliance's infrastructure and outcomes.
Beyond four-week quits: a conference report highlighting the importance of a comprehensive approach to reducing smoking prevalence.
Taking CPD seriously: a toolkit aimed at specialist stop smoking advisors providing guidance on continuous professional development.
Better for less: smoking in pregnancy: this resource pack has been created in collaboration with the Yorkshire & Humber Public Health Observatory and provides commissioners and providers with effective interventions in reducing smoking pre, during and post-pregnancy.
Achieving four-week quits - ten high impact changes: making it easier for smokers to quit
Brief interventions: 30 second stop smoking advice for clinicians
