Dr ILZE BOGDANOVICA ILZE.BOGDANOVICA@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Associate Professor
What factors influence smoking prevalence and smoke free policy enactment across the European Union Member States
Bogdanovica, Ilze; McNeill, Ann; Murray, Rachael; Britton, John
Authors
Ann McNeill
DR RACHAEL MURRAY RACHAEL.MURRAY@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Population Health
John Britton
Abstract
Background
Smoking prevention should be a primary public health priority for all governments, and effective preventive policies have been identified for decades. The heterogeneity of smoking prevalence between European Union (EU) Member States therefore reflects, at least in part, a failure by governments to prioritise public health over tobacco industry or possibly other financial interests, and hence potentially government corruption.
The aims of this study were to test the hypothesis that smoking prevalence is higher in countries with high levels of public sector corruption, and explore the ecological association between smoking prevalence and a range of other national characteristics in current EU Member States.
Methods
Ecological data from 27 EU Member States were used to estimate univariate and multivariate correlations between smoking prevalence and the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, and a range of other national characteristics including economic development, social inclusion, quality of life and importance of religion. We also explored the association between the Corruption Perceptions Index and measures of the extent to which smoke-free policies have been enacted and are enforced.
Results
In univariate analysis, smoking prevalence was significantly higher in countries with higher scores for corruption, material deprivation, and gender inequality; and lower in countries with higher per capita Gross Domestic Product, social spending, life satisfaction and human development scores. In multivariate analysis, only the corruption perception index was independently related to smoking prevalence. Exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace was also correlated with corruption, independently from smoking prevalence, but not with the measures of national smoke-free policy implementation.
Conclusions
Corruption appears to be an important risk factor for failure of national tobacco control activity in EU countries, and the extent to which key tobacco control policies have been implemented. Further research is needed to assess the causal relationships involved.
Citation
Bogdanovica, I., McNeill, A., Murray, R., & Britton, J. (2011). What factors influence smoking prevalence and smoke free policy enactment across the European Union Member States. PLoS ONE, 6(8), Article e23889. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023889
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Aug 31, 2011 |
Deposit Date | Mar 24, 2014 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 28, 2024 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Electronic ISSN | 1932-6203 |
Publisher | Public Library of Science |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 6 |
Issue | 8 |
Article Number | e23889 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023889 |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/707945 |
Publisher URL | http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023889 |
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Copyright Statement
Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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