Smoking

Definition

This topic refers to the smoking of tobacco, including:

• Manufactured (packet) cigarettes
• Roll-your-own cigarettes
• Cigars
• Pipes.

This topic excludes:

• Chewing tobacco
• Electronic cigarettes (and similar)
• Smoking of non-tobacco products.

Respondents were asked to describe smoking status at the time of interview:

• Current smokers:
  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Other
• Ex-smokers
• Never smoked (those who had never smoked 100 cigarettes, nor pipes, cigars or other tobacco products at least 20 times, in their lifetime).

In 2017-18 NHS new questions collected consumption amounts:

• Usual number of days smoked cigarettes in a week
• Usual number of cigarettes smoked per day
• Usual number of cigarettes smoked per week.

Population

Information was obtained for persons aged 15 years and over.

Methodology

NHS/SIH combined data

In 2017-18, information on smoking was collected in both the NHS and the 2017-18 Survey of Income and Housing (SIH).

Like the NHS, the SIH is a household survey that collects information by personal interview from usual residents aged 15 years and over. More information on the scope, survey design and response rates for SIH can be found in the Survey of Income and Housing User Guide (cat. no. 6553.0). Sample counts from the pooled dataset are available in Appendix 1 of this publication.

Information from the two surveys was combined to produce the pooled National Health Survey and Survey of Income and Housing (NHIH) Dataset.

The NHIH dataset contains all data items that are common to the NHS and SIH including demographics and socio-economic information. This pooled dataset is used for all smoker status estimates in the National Health Survey First Results publication (cat. no. 4364.0.55.001) where all items can be derived from the combined dataset, while the NHS dataset is used for estimates including data items only present in the NHS (e.g. smoker status by other health risk factors or conditions). As the estimates from the NHS dataset were benchmarked to the pooled dataset, the unperturbed estimates of smoker status will be identical in the two datasets, however the margins of error will be lower in the pooled dataset due to the larger sample size.

In both NHS and SIH, respondents were asked whether they currently smoke. Those who answered yes were asked whether they smoked daily (the term 'regularly' is used in the questions and is defined as at least once a day). Those who did not smoke daily were asked whether they smoked at least once a week.

Respondents, who reported that they did not currently smoke daily, were asked whether they had:

• Ever smoked regularly (that is, at least once a day)
• Smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their life
• Smoked pipes, cigars or other tobacco products at least 20 times in their life (asked only if they had not identified smoking at least 100 cigarettes).

If a respondent did not currently smoke, had not previously smoked daily and had never smoked at least 100 cigarettes, nor smoked pipes, cigars or other tobacco products at least 20 times in their life, they were classified as persons who had never smoked.

NHS data only

In NHS only, current daily and ex-daily smokers were asked:

• The age they had started smoking daily.

Ex-daily smokers were asked:

• The age at which they stopped smoking regularly
• Whether they had stopped smoking regularly in the last 12 months.

Current smokers were asked:

• Whether their smoking had increased, decreased or stayed the same in the last 12 months
• Usual number of days smoked in a week
• Usual number of cigarettes smoked per day
• Usual number of cigarettes smoked per week.

NHS adult respondents in households, other than single person households, were asked:

• Whether anyone in the household smoked regularly, and if so, the number of people (excluding themselves).

This question was asked if there was more than one person aged 18 years or over in the household.
Note that the output item 'Number of daily smokers in household' is a count of all persons in the household who are smokers, including the respondent(s).

All NHS adult respondents with at least one regular smoker in the household were asked:

• whether anyone usually smoked inside the house.

Data items

The questionnaire, data items and related output categories for this topic in the NHS are available in pdf / Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.

Please note that:

• Although the items 'Numbers of daily smokers in household' and 'Whether any daily smokers smoked at home indoors' were collected from the adult respondent in NHS, these items are presented on the household level due to being household characteristics.
• Respondents were asked whether they smoked or had ever smoked 'regularly, that is, 'at least once a day'. The term 'regular' is replaced by the term 'daily' in the data items.

Interpretation

Points to be considered in interpreting data for this topic include the following:

• Some under-reporting of persons identifying as current smokers is expected to have occurred due to social pressures, particularly in cases where other household members were present at the interview. Interviewers were given the opportunity to indicate whether a parent was present at the time of the interview for persons aged 15 to 17 years, in order to assist with analysis of some aspects of under-reporting.
• While interviewers are provided with examples of inclusions and exclusions, it is possible that respondents may have included products that they shouldn't have, or vice versa.
• 'Duration of daily smoking - years' is derived in the NHS from reported age commenced daily smoking to current age at the time of the survey (for current smokers), and from age commenced daily smoking to age last ceased daily smoking (for ex-regular smokers). The items are therefore subject to errors around the ages reported by respondents, and the derivation of 'duration' takes no account of periods (potentially long periods) when the respondent may have ceased smoking only to start again.
• 'Smoking level compared to 12 months ago' (whether increased, decreased or stayed the same) collected in the NHS is based on self-perception.
• The NHS selected adult respondent may not have known the smoker status of all other members of the household if, for example, another member only smoked when at work, or children kept their smoking hidden from parents. As a result, some undercounting may have occurred in household level smoking. Estimates of the prevalence of smoking in the population should therefore be based on person level data rather than responses to the 'smokers in household' questions.

Comparability with 2014-15

Smoking data are considered directly comparable between the 2017-18 and 2014-15 NHS from both the NHS and the NHIH dataset. Number of cigarettes usually consumed information was only collected in 2017-18 NHS.

Detailed analysis of smoking data at finer breakdowns from the pooled smoking dataset will be released late 2019.

More information regarding comparisons between 2014-15 NHS and previous cycles is available in the National Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2014-15 (cat. no. 4363.0).