Smoking Is The Cause Of One-Quarter Of Scots Deaths

Smoking is behind nearly one-quarter of deaths in Scotland, rising to almost one- third in some communities. The devastating loss of life is revealed today in the most detailed ever report on the nation’s addiction to tobacco.

How many people smoke community by community is also estimated by the research which is intended to help target services such as quit clinics. In parts of Glasgow, including Drumchapel North, North Barlanark and Easterhouse South every other adult is a smoker.

Across North Glasgow, smoking claims the lives of 34% of men and 36% of women who die before the age of 70, according to the study. Shetland and the Western Isles, followed by more rural parts of mainland Scotland, have the lowest death toll.

Maureen Moore, chief executive of Ash Scotland, said: “There are a massive amount of people under the age of 70 dying from smoking. These are preventable deaths. If we can target resources, education, prevention and cessation resources, that could make a big difference to their lives.”

The research, published by health promotion agency NHS Health Scotland, does not use any data collected after the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces came into force in Scotland last year.

However Dr David Gordon, head of the public health observatory division of Health Scotland, said the picture it painted was still valid. He said: “The stop smoking services want to know where the largest numbers of smokers are.

“In addition, young people starting up smoking are very influenced by the environment in which they live, so the areas that have a high level of smoking just now are where we would expect to have more young people starting to smoke. The research will help us to target prevention activities.”

He added that the document reinforced the message that smoking still needs attention in Scotland. Dr Gordon said: “It is not a problem that is finished and tackled and at a stage where we can turn our heads and look at other things. Smoking is still an important issue.”

However he said there was some good news. He added: “In the 1950s 90% of adult males smoked. It was incredible. Watch old 1940s black and white movies and see how normal smoking was then among men. You can turn the statistics (in today’s report) around another way and say even in the most deprived areas half of people do not smoke.”

There has been a gradual decline in smoking across Scotland from 27% of the population in 2004 to 25% in 2006. However, this disguises a dramatic difference in the prevalence of the habit between poor and affluent areas. If Scotland is divided into five according to wealth, 12% of adults in the richest fifth are smokers compared to 41% in the most deprived fifth.

Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, welcomed the launch of the Tobacco Atlas report. She said: “Smoking is a primary cause of health inequalities, with the average smoker losing 10 years of life expectancy compared to non- smokers living in the same area.”

Ms Robison said there was a need to discourage young people from starting to smoke in the first place and raising the smoking age to 18 would send out a clear message that the habit is “highly dangerous”.

Ben McKendrick, policy and public affairs manager at British Heart Foundation Scotland, said: “We welcome this report which shows, for the first time, the real levels of smoking in local authority and health board areas across Scotland. Stopping smoking is the single most important thing anyone can do to improve their heart health.”