Smoking

Published: July 2023
Updated: October 2023

Smoking is proven to have a significant impact on an individual’s health, leading to many serious conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and cancers.

Headlines

  • 18.3% of adults are smokers, according to primary care data.
  • Smoking prevalence across the district has declined over the last 10 years.
  • People in the most deprived areas (30.3%) are 4x more likely to smoke than people in least deprived areas (7.7%).
  • Males (20.6%) are more likely to smoke than females (16.7%).
  • Those aged 40-44 have the highest smoking prevalence rates (25.5%).
  • There were 1,681 per 100,000 population smoking attributable hospital admissions between April 2022 – March 2023*.
  • There were 266 per 100,000 population smoking attributable mortalities in the three years 2020-2022**.
  • Males are more likely to have a smoking attributable hospital admission or mortality than females.

*Hospital admissions dropped across the board during the Covid-19 pandemic and so the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 figures may have been affected.
**Admissions and mortalities where Covid-19 was recorded as the primary cause have not been included as the smoking attributable relative risk for Covid-19 has not yet been published. The smoking attributable hospital admission and mortality counts and rates will be recalculated once these become available.

How does Wakefield district compare…

nationally?

This section contains the latest nationally published data from the OHID Fingertips – Local Tobacco Control profile.

Compared to the England average, Wakefield district has…

  • Statistically better outcomes for those wanting to quit.
  • Statistically similar smoking prevalence among the adult population, and among adults in routine and manual occupations.
  • Statistically higher smoking prevalence among adults with a long term health condition.
  • Statistically higher rates of smoking attributable hospital admissions and mortalities.

in recent years?

The proportion of disease attributable to smoking (smoking attributable fraction) is calculated using a relative risk (a fraction between 0 and 1) specific to each disease, age group (35+) and sex combined with smoking prevalence calculations. This indicator uses updated smoking attributable fractions, based on new relative risks published in the ‘Hiding in Plain Sight‘ report by the Royal College of Physicians in 2018. Directly age-standardised rates (DSR) are calculated per 100,000 standardised to the European standard population.

  • There were 1,681 per 100,000 population smoking attributable hospital admissions between April 2022 – March 2023*.
  • There were 266 per 100,000 population smoking attributable mortalities in the three years 2020-2022**.
  • Males are more likely to have a smoking attributable hospital admission or mortality than females.

*Hospital admissions dropped across the board during the Covid-19 pandemic and so the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 figures may have been affected.
**Admissions and mortalities where Covid-19 was recorded as the primary cause have not been included as the smoking attributable relative risk for Covid-19 has not yet been published. The smoking attributable hospital admission and mortality counts and rates will be recalculated once these become available.

The interactive dashboard below can be used to explore the trends in smoking attributable hospital admissions and mortalities data over the recent years. Click on the buttons at the bottom to navigate between the different measures.

What are the differences within Wakefield district?

smoking inequalities

An estimate of smoking prevalence has been calculated by using data from local primary care systems where an individual has a smoking status recorded in the last 18 months. As some individuals do not have a smoking status recorded, these figures should be treated purely as estimates, but provide a guide as to the picture of smoking prevalence within Wakefield district.

The proportion of disease attributable to smoking (smoking attributable fraction) is calculated using a relative risk (a fraction between 0 and 1) specific to each disease, age group (35+) and sex combined with smoking prevalence calculations. This indicator uses updated smoking attributable fractions, based on new relative risks published in the ‘Hiding in Plain Sight‘ report by the Royal College of Physicians in 2018. Directly age-standardised rates (DSR) are calculated per 100,000 standardised to the European standard population.

  • Smoking is apparent in all groups and geographies across Wakefield.
  • Smoking is more prevalent in males than females.
  • Higher prevalence is seen in those aged 40-44 than other age groups.
  • Smoking is more prevalent in those living in more deprived areas than those living in the least deprived areas.
  • Smoking contributes to hospital admissions and mortalities in all groups and geographies across Wakefield.
  • Smoking attributable hospital admissions and mortalities are markedly higher among males and those living in the most deprived areas.

The interactive dashboard below can be used to explore the inequalities in smoking prevalence and smoking attributable hospital admissions and mortalities. Click on the buttons at the bottom to navigate between the different measures. Use the filters section at the top to explore the different inequalities and periods. The chart and map are colour coded showing the comparison against the district average figure.

Further information

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