Schulze Alexander, Mons Ute
German Cancer Research Center, Unit Cancer Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco Control, Heidelberg, Germany.
Addiction. 2006 Jul;101(7):1051-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01458.x.
To investigate the evolution of the relationship between education and smoking behaviour (ever-smoking and age of initiation) among German birth cohorts of 1921-70.
A total of 5297 respondents to the German Federal Health Survey of 1998 were divided into 10-year sex-birth-education cohorts.
Self-reported smoking histories (ever-smoking and the age of starting smoking).
There was an inversion of the educational gradient around the birth cohorts of 1931-40 for men and 1941-50 for women. For men, the educational cross-over in smoking was due to a stronger decrease of the ever-smoking prevalence of the highly educated compared to the least educated. In women it was due to a stronger increase in ever-smoking prevalence among the least educated compared to the highly educated. This educational cross-over effect was also be detected for the average age of starting smoking, and involved the same cohorts. Additionally, in the youngest birth cohorts the differences between the least and highest educated of each gender were greater than the differences between the genders.
The educational differences in smoking prevalence are stable in men but in women they are widening. Hence, socio-economic inequalities in health due to smoking will rise in women in the next decades, while they will stabilize in men.
研究1921年至1970年德国出生队列中教育与吸烟行为（曾经吸烟和开始吸烟年龄）之间关系的演变。
1998年德国联邦健康调查的5297名受访者被分为按性别、出生年份和教育程度划分的10年队列。
自我报告的吸烟史（曾经吸烟和开始吸烟的年龄）。
在1931年至1940年出生队列的男性和1941年至1950年出生队列的女性中，教育梯度出现了反转。对于男性，吸烟方面的教育交叉是由于与受教育程度最低者相比，高学历者曾经吸烟的患病率下降幅度更大。对于女性，这是由于与高学历者相比，受教育程度最低者曾经吸烟的患病率上升幅度更大。在开始吸烟的平均年龄方面也发现了这种教育交叉效应，且涉及相同的队列。此外，在最年轻的出生队列中，各性别受教育程度最低者和最高者之间的差异大于性别之间的差异。
男性吸烟患病率的教育差异稳定，而女性的差异正在扩大。因此，未来几十年因吸烟导致的健康方面的社会经济不平等在女性中将增加，而在男性中则将趋于稳定。
