A warning has been issued to middle-class women under 45 as a study suggests an increase in smoking rates within this age group.
While the number of working-class women lighting up in England has decreased, it seems that more affluent groups are seeing a rise. Moreover, vaping has seen a significant surge among all women aged between 18 and 45, with rates tripling from 5.1% to 19.7% over the past decade, according to researchers.
The data, analysed by experts at University College London, was collected from October 2013 to October 2023 and included 197,266 adults, of which 44,052 were women of reproductive age (18 to 45). The information was sourced from the Smoking Toolkit Study, a continuous monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of adults in England. The study revealed that smoking prevalence among working-class women and those in lower socioeconomic groups aged 18 to 45 dropped from 28.7% to 22.4% over the decade.
These women resided in households where the highest earners held manual, semi- or unskilled jobs, or were unemployed (known as C2DE). However, smoking prevalence increased from 11.7% to 14.9% among women aged 18 to 45 categorised as more advantaged, where the highest household earners were in professional, managerial or clerical roles (ABC1).
Interestingly, this trend did not apply to men across all classes, whose smoking rates remained stable throughout the decade. The study was funded by Cancer Research UK and its findings were published in BMC Medicine, reports Nottinghamshire Live.
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Dr Sarah Jackson from UCL's Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care expressed concern over the uptick in smoking habits among younger women from more affluent social backgrounds in England, stating: "It is concerning to find an apparent increase in smoking among women under 45 from more advantaged social groups in England. We did not see this in all adults or in men of the same age."
She highlighted the potential benefits of targeted interventions for this demographic: "These findings suggest this group may benefit from targeted intervention to prevent the uptake of smoking or relapse. Reducing smoking is especially important among women in this age group as smoking reduces fertility and increases the chances of complications during pregnancy, miscarriage and poor infant health."
The research also pointed out a significant rise in the number of female smokers aged 18 to 45 who prefer hand-rolled cigarettes, jumping from 40.5% to 61.4% over ten years. The team suggested that the cost-of-living crisis might be impacting less well-off women's finances, thus influencing their smoking habits, including a shift to less expensive hand-rolled tobacco.
The study further noted that the Covid pandemic has intensified gender disparities, with women facing higher unemployment rates. It also mentioned that industries with a high concentration of female employees, such as education and nursing, have been hit by pay freezes, reducing their disposable income.
The team wrote: "These financial pressures probably contributed to the reduction in smoking prevalence among women from less advantaged social grades and encouraged those who did not stop to switch to hand-rolled products as a way to afford to continue to smoke."
Dr Sharon Cox, the senior author, said: "The reasons for the possible increase in smoking among more advantaged women under 45 are unclear. However, it may be that financial pressures of smoking were less influential for this group. Some may also have moved to cheaper hand-rolled cigarettes a trend that was most pronounced among less advantaged female smokers, 68% of whom rolled their own cigarettes by 2023."
The researchers highlighted the need for further investigation into whether the uptick in smoking among more affluent women is due to new smokers or previous smokers picking up the habit again. This inquiry comes at a time when the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has issued a report demanding stricter controls on vaping among the youth.
The study advocates for tighter regulations on e-cigarette promotion on social media, making vapes less affordable for the younger demographic, and suggests that plain packaging could make vapes less attractive.
In a recent parliamentary session, MPs rallied behind Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's initiative to prohibit the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009, despite some Conservative MPs dissenting. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was passed with a majority, securing 383 votes against 67.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: "The health advice is clear nobody should start smoking. This is why we are taking bold action to create the world's first smokefree generation, with MPs voting the Tobacco and Vapes Bill through to committee stage.
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"We have also doubled funding for stop smoking services to nearly £140 million a year, helping 360,000 people to quit with affordable and easy access support, including our Swap to Stop programme."
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