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Chapter 3 Poverty and Smoking Martin Bobak, Prabhat Jha, Son Nguyen, and Martin Jarvis This
chapter examines the association between poverty and tobacco
use. It provides a comprehensive review of the data on
smoking prevalence and consumption levels in different
socio-economic group, both within individual countries and
internationally. It funds that smoking is more common among
poor men (variously defined by income, education,
occupation, or social class) than rich men in nearly all
countries. In high-income countries, the social gradients of
smoking are clearly established for me: smoking has been
widespread for several decades, and smoking-attributable
mortality can be measured reliably. Analyses of
smoking-attributable mortality in middle age (defined as
ages 35-69) in Canada, England and Wales, Poland, and the
United States reveal that smoking is responsible for most of
the excess mortality of poor men in these countries. For
women, the situation is more variable, partly reflecting the
more recent onset of mass smoking by women in certain parts
of the world. Why poor people smoke more remains a complex
question that requires further research. |