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. 2023 May 30;23(1):1016.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15799-1.

Are we equally at risk of changing smoking behavior during a public health crisis? Impact of educational level on smoking from the TEMPO cohort

Astrid Juhl Andersen  1   2 , Irwin Hecker  3 , Solène Wallez  3 , Anke Witteveen  4 , Antonio Lora  5 , Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz  6 , Giovanni Corrao  7   8 , Henrik Walter  9 , Josep Maria Haro  10 , Marit Sijbrandij  4 , Matteo Monzio Compagnoni  7   8 , Mireia Felez-Nobrega  10 , Raffael Kalisch  8   11 , Richard Bryant  12 , Maria Melchior  3 , Murielle Mary-Krause  3
Affiliations

Are we equally at risk of changing smoking behavior during a public health crisis? Impact of educational level on smoking from the TEMPO cohort

Astrid Juhl Andersen et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic as a public health crisis has led to a significant increase in mental health difficulties. Smoking is strongly associated with mental health conditions, which is why the pandemic might have influenced the otherwise decline in smoking rates. Persons belonging to socioeconomically disadvantaged groups may be particularly affected, both because the pandemic has exacerbated existing social inequalities and because this group was more likely to smoke before the pandemic. We examined smoking prevalence in a French cohort study, focusing on differences between educational attainment. In addition, we examined the association between interpersonal changes in tobacco consumption and educational level from 2018 to 2021.

Methods: Using four assessments of smoking status available from 2009 to 2021, we estimated smoking prevalence over time, stratified by highest educational level in the TEMPO cohort and the difference was tested using chi2 test. We studied the association between interpersonal change in smoking status between 2018 and 2021 and educational attainment among 148 smokers, using multinomial logistic regression.

Results: Smoking prevalence was higher among those with low education. The difference between the two groups increased from 2020 to 2021 (4.8-9.4%, p < 0.001). Smokers with high educational level were more likely to decrease their tobacco consumption from 2018 to 2021 compared to low educated smokers (aOR = 2.72 [1.26;5.89]).

Conclusion: Current findings showed a widening of the social inequality gap in relation to smoking rates, underscoring the increased vulnerability of persons with low educational level to smoking and the likely inadequate focus on social inequalities in relation to tobacco control policies during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; France; Smoking behavior; Social inequalities; Tobacco.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Smoking prevalence stratified by educational level (Bac + 3 or higher vs. Bac + 2 or less)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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