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Prevalence and characteristics of co-occurrence of smoking and increasing-and-higher-risk drinking: A population survey in England

Garnett, Claire; Oldham, Melissa; Brose, Leonie; Cheeseman, Hazel; Cox, Sharon; (2024) Prevalence and characteristics of co-occurrence of smoking and increasing-and-higher-risk drinking: A population survey in England. Addictive Behaviors , 150 , Article 107928. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107928. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Smoking and drinking alcohol both significantly contribute to mortality and morbidity, and there is a need to characterise the sociodemographic and health-related characteristics (e.g. mental distress) of people who do both in order to target resources. This study reports the prevalence and characteristics of adults in the general population in England who both drink alcohol at increasing-and-higher-risk levels and smoke. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from a monthly, nationally representative survey of adults in England (n = 37,258; April 2020-March 2022). Weighted data were used to report prevalence and unweighted data were used to report descriptive statistics for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. Results: The prevalence of both smoking and increasing-and-higher-risk drinking was 4.6% (95% CI = 4.4–4.9; n = 1,574). They smoked a mean of 10.4 (SD = 8.86) cigarettes per day and had a mean AUDIT score of 12.8 (SD = 5.18). Nearly half (48.2%, n = 751) were trying to cut down on their smoking and 28.0% (n = 441) on their drinking. A quarter (25.3%, n = 397) had received General Practitioner advice on smoking while 8.7% (n = 76) had received advice on their drinking. Nearly half (48.6%, n = 745) reported experiencing psychological distress in the past month and 44.6% (n = 529) had a diagnosed mental health condition, both of which were higher than among all adults (28.1% and 29.1%, respectively). Conclusion: In England, from April 2020 to March 2022, the prevalence of both smoking and increasing-and-higher-risk drinking was 4.6%. This group appears to experience high rates of mental health problems and targeted support is needed.

Type: Article
Title: Prevalence and characteristics of co-occurrence of smoking and increasing-and-higher-risk drinking: A population survey in England
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107928
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107928
Language: English
Additional information: © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Cigarette smoking, Alcohol consumption, Smokers, Drinkers, Population characteristics
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10184341
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