UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2012 Jul;31(5):693-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2012.00447.x. Epub 2012 Apr 4.
To describe initiatives aiming to reduce the social gradient of smoking in the UK.
A description of government initiatives to support smokers from low socioeconomic and other key groups, including National Health Service Stop Smoking Services and how they are seeking to support smokers to quit.
The UK is employing a number of strategies to reduce smoking prevalence and is currently top of the Tobacco Control Scale in Europe but the health gap does not yet appear to be decreasing (in relation to smoking prevalence in deprived and higher income groups). More recently, efforts have been made to target smokers in more deprived groups to draw more of these smokers into the quitting process.
While Stop Smoking Services are a key part of the UK's comprehensive tobacco control strategy and are reaching smokers from low socioeconomic groups, wider population strategies, such as ensuring all contacts with health-care professionals include advice to stop and the prohibition of remaining channels of tobacco marketing, are required to maximise the impact on deprived smokers.
While smoking prevalence decreases among the general population are important, reducing smoking among disadvantaged groups is imperative to reduce health inequalities. It is too soon to say whether the new measures recently adopted in the UK will help to achieve this.
描述英国旨在减少吸烟社会梯度的举措。
描述旨在支持来自社会经济地位较低和其他关键群体的吸烟者的政府举措，包括国民保健服务戒烟服务，以及他们如何寻求支持吸烟者戒烟。
英国正在采取多项策略来降低吸烟率，目前在欧洲的烟草控制量表中排名第一，但健康差距似乎并没有缩小（与贫困和高收入群体的吸烟率相比）。最近，已经努力针对更贫困的吸烟者群体，以吸引更多的这些吸烟者参与戒烟过程。
虽然戒烟服务是英国综合烟草控制战略的关键组成部分，并且正在接触来自社会经济地位较低群体的吸烟者，但需要更广泛的人口策略，例如确保与医疗保健专业人员的所有接触都包括戒烟建议，并禁止剩余的烟草营销渠道，以最大限度地扩大对贫困吸烟者的影响。
虽然普通人群中吸烟率的下降很重要，但减少弱势群体中的吸烟率对于减少健康不平等至关重要。目前还为时过早，无法确定英国最近采取的新措施是否有助于实现这一目标。
