TRENDS OF SMOKING-HABITS IN NORTHERN ITALY (1986-1990) - THE WHO MONICA PROJECT IN AREA BRIANZA, ITALY

The trends of age-gender specific prevalence of self-reported smoking habits are presented, observed in two population surveys, performed in 1986-87 and 1989-90 in Area Brianza, a northern Italian industrialize d district where a WHO MONICA Centre is located. Methods were internat ionally standardized to obtain comparable data on two independent rand om samples, each composed of 1,600 subjects, age-sex stratified and ex tracted from the 25-64 year old residents. A closed question interview was administered to identify smoking condition (smoker, past-smoker, occasional smoker, never smoker), number of cigarettes consumed per da y and attained educational level, categorized in compulsory school and post-compulsory school. Serum thiocyanate was measured as a validatio n index, using a cutpoint of > 100 mu mol l(-1) to detect false negati ves. Trends in smoking prevalence are analyzed taking into account inf luences of education in the presence of an anti-smoking policy that wa s started in Italy toward the end of the eighties. Self-reported data, confirmed by serum thiocyanate, show a consistent decline of smokers among males (from 48 to 41%), more evident in younger age groups. In f emales, smoking prevalence is stable (23-24%), although thiocyanate le vels in the whole samples indicate a slight but significant tendency t o decrease. Education demonstrates positive influences against smoking , particularly in younger male classes. In females a crossover effect is observable: in the second survey youngest group, education results protective against smoking; the contrary is true in the older groups, Our data, detailing what was initially recognized in previous Italian surveys, may be useful to specify the directions of future preventive actions.