Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.

The aim of our study was to quantify sex-specific patterns of smoking prevalence and initiation in 10-year birth cohorts from 1910 to 1989 in Australia. We combined individual data of 385,810 participants from 33 cross-sectional surveys conducted between 1962 and 2018. We found that age-specific smo...

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Main Authors: Pavla Vaneckova, Stephen Wade, Marianne Weber, John M Murray, Paul Grogan, Michael Caruana, Emily Banks, Karen Canfell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250824&type=printable
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author Pavla Vaneckova
Stephen Wade
Marianne Weber
John M Murray
Paul Grogan
Michael Caruana
Emily Banks
Karen Canfell
author_facet Pavla Vaneckova
Stephen Wade
Marianne Weber
John M Murray
Paul Grogan
Michael Caruana
Emily Banks
Karen Canfell
author_sort Pavla Vaneckova
collection DOAJ
description The aim of our study was to quantify sex-specific patterns of smoking prevalence and initiation in 10-year birth cohorts from 1910 to 1989 in Australia. We combined individual data of 385,810 participants from 33 cross-sectional surveys conducted between 1962 and 2018. We found that age-specific smoking prevalence varied considerably between men and women within birth cohorts born before 1960. The largest difference was observed in the earliest cohort (1910-1919), with up to 37.7% point greater proportion of current smokers in men than in women. In subsequent cohorts, the proportion decreased among men, but increased among women, until there was no more than 7.4% point difference in the 1960-69 birth cohort. In the 1970-79 and 1980-89 cohorts, smoking among men marginally increased, but the proportion was at most ~11.0% points higher than women. Our analysis of initiation indicated that many women born before the 1930s who smoked commenced smoking after age 25 years (e.g., ~27% born in 1910-19); compared to at most 8% of men in any birth cohort. The earliest birth cohort (1910-1919) had the greatest difference in age at initiation between sexes; 26.6 years in women versus 19.0 in men. In later cohorts, male and female smokers initiated increasingly earlier, converging in the 1960-69 cohort (17.6 and 17.8 years, respectively). While 22.9% of men and 8.4% of women initiated smoking aged < = 15 in the 1910-1919 cohort, in the latest cohort (1980-89) the reverse was true (21.4% and 28.8% for men and women, respectively). Marked differences in smoking prevalence and age at initiation existed between birth cohorts of Australian men and women born before 1960; after this, sex-specific trends in prevalence and initiation were similar. Understanding these patterns may inform the evaluation of tobacco control policies and the targeting of potential interventions for exposed populations such as lung cancer screening.
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spelling doaj-art-297ed7b477ec4cf4a51beb9b1ccffd5a2025-08-20T02:55:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01165e025082410.1371/journal.pone.0250824Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.Pavla VaneckovaStephen WadeMarianne WeberJohn M MurrayPaul GroganMichael CaruanaEmily BanksKaren CanfellThe aim of our study was to quantify sex-specific patterns of smoking prevalence and initiation in 10-year birth cohorts from 1910 to 1989 in Australia. We combined individual data of 385,810 participants from 33 cross-sectional surveys conducted between 1962 and 2018. We found that age-specific smoking prevalence varied considerably between men and women within birth cohorts born before 1960. The largest difference was observed in the earliest cohort (1910-1919), with up to 37.7% point greater proportion of current smokers in men than in women. In subsequent cohorts, the proportion decreased among men, but increased among women, until there was no more than 7.4% point difference in the 1960-69 birth cohort. In the 1970-79 and 1980-89 cohorts, smoking among men marginally increased, but the proportion was at most ~11.0% points higher than women. Our analysis of initiation indicated that many women born before the 1930s who smoked commenced smoking after age 25 years (e.g., ~27% born in 1910-19); compared to at most 8% of men in any birth cohort. The earliest birth cohort (1910-1919) had the greatest difference in age at initiation between sexes; 26.6 years in women versus 19.0 in men. In later cohorts, male and female smokers initiated increasingly earlier, converging in the 1960-69 cohort (17.6 and 17.8 years, respectively). While 22.9% of men and 8.4% of women initiated smoking aged < = 15 in the 1910-1919 cohort, in the latest cohort (1980-89) the reverse was true (21.4% and 28.8% for men and women, respectively). Marked differences in smoking prevalence and age at initiation existed between birth cohorts of Australian men and women born before 1960; after this, sex-specific trends in prevalence and initiation were similar. Understanding these patterns may inform the evaluation of tobacco control policies and the targeting of potential interventions for exposed populations such as lung cancer screening.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250824&type=printable
spellingShingle Pavla Vaneckova
Stephen Wade
Marianne Weber
John M Murray
Paul Grogan
Michael Caruana
Emily Banks
Karen Canfell
Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
PLoS ONE
title Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
title_full Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
title_fullStr Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
title_full_unstemmed Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
title_short Birth-cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century Australia: Synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385,810 participants.
title_sort birth cohort estimates of smoking initiation and prevalence in 20th century australia synthesis of data from 33 surveys and 385 810 participants
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250824&type=printable
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