Smoking in Mediterranean countries: Europe, North Africa and the Middle-East. Results from a co-operative study

SETTING: Although smoking is considered a major public health problem, it r emains an important component of social behaviour and economic activity. OBJECTIVE: To provide an initial evaluation, from available data, of the ma in characteristics of smoking in the Mediterranean region. DESIGN: A questionnaire was sent to a group of correspondents-clinicians or epidemiologists involved in tobacco prevention-in the different countries. RESULTS: The proportion of smokers was quite different in men and women. In the majority of the countries over 45 % of men and under 15 % of women wer e smokers. The mean age of initiation of smoking was about 15. In every cou ntry mainly manufactured cigarettes were smoked, and the younger population preferred American cigarettes. Doctors and medical students had smoking ha bits similar to those of the general population. All of the countries inclu ded in the study had antismoking legislation, but only some put restriction s on advertising or sponsoring from the tobacco industry. CONCLUSION: TO deal with the situation, recommendations have been proposed by a group of IUATLD experts in the different regions. The first of these i s the implementation of a co-operative study in order to collect reliable d ata an smoking. Other recommendations are to set up educational programmes for health professionals to aid them in their smoking prevention activities .