Determinants of health

Percentage of respondents answering reporting to smoke cigarettes daily derived from EHIS questions SK.1 and SK.2; SK.1: Do you smoke at all nowadays? 1. Yes, daily; 2. Yes, occasionally; 3. Not at all. SK.2: What tobacco product do you smoke each day? 1. Manufactured cigarettes; 2. Hand-rolled cigarettes; 3. Cigars; 4. Pipefuls of tobacco; 5. Other. For the calculation of this indicator the answering categories “yes, daily” for EHIS question SK.1 should be combined with answering categories “manufactured cigarettes” and/or “hand-rolled cigarettes” for EHIS question SK2. EHIS data will not be age standardized.

Relevant dimensions and subgroups

Calendar year
Country
Sex
Age group (15-24; 25-64; 65+)
Socio-economic status (educational level. ISCED 3 aggregated groups: 0-2; 3+4; 5+6)

Preferred data type and data source

Preferred data type

HIS

Preferred data source

Eurostat (EHIS)

Data availability

BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, IT, CY, LV, HU, MT, AT, PL, RO, SI, SK, CH, NO and TR conducted a first wave of EHIS between 2006 and 2010. It is noted that not in all of these countries a full scale survey was carried out; in some only specific modules were applied, in others the full questionnaire was applied in a small pilot sample. It is expected that all EU Member States will conduct EHIS in the second wave, which is planned for 2014. The results of the first wave are expected to be published in two stages, 11 countries in October 2010, the remaining countries in April 2011. EHIS data are available by sex, 8 age groups (15-24/25-34/35-44/45-54/55-64/65-74/75-84/85+) and ISCED groups.

Data periodicity

EHIS will be conducted once every 5 years. The first wave took place in 2007/2010 (with some derogations in 2006) and the second wave is planned for 2014.

Rationale

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease in our society. It is a major risk factor for diseases of the heart and blood vessels, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cancers of the lung and other diseases. Passive smoking is also an important public health problem. Smoking is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor; effective tobacco control measures can reduce the occurrence of smoking in the population.

Remarks

The percentage of daily cigarette smokers in the population aged 15+ also is one of the Health and Long Term Care Indictors of the Social Protection Committee. “Present smokers, by gender and age group” is one of the Sustainable Development Indicators under development.
According to current plans, Eurostat will probably not age-standardize EHIS data. For comparability reasons ECHIM would however prefer age-standardized data.
Only cigarette smokers are included in the above definition because pipe and cigar smoking has quite a different risk profile (less risk for the smoker due to less inhaling). Furthermore, cigarettes (including self-rolled ones) are the bulk of tobacco consumption.
The above definition and calculation are based on the first version of the EHIS questionnaire, as used in the first EHIS wave (2007/2010). The EHIS questionnaire will be revised, hence adaptations to the EHIS question underlying this indicator may occur in the second wave (planned for 2014).
The legal basis for EHIS is regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work. This is an umbrella regulation. Specific implementing acts will define the details of the statistics Member States have to deliver to Eurostat. An implementing act on EHIS is expected to come into force in 2014.

References

Work to do

Monitor EHIS/Eurostat developments

European Commission - Public Health: healthindicators.org

Definition

Calculation