Smoking research roundup

Deprivation and smoking

Smoking causes about 15% of malignancies in England, ranging from 0.3% of ovarian cancers to 72% of lung cancers. The incidence for all cancers combined is about 17% higher in the most deprived areas compared to the most affluent parts of England. Smoking prevalence is around 2.5 times higher in the lowest income group than in the most wealthy.

Against this background, researchers estimated the proportion of cancer cases caused by smoking (population attributable fraction; PAF) for 15 malignancies. These smoking-related malignancies account for 44% of annual cancer cases in England. Researchers classified people into five socioeconomic groups (quintiles).