Social determinants of smoking behaviour in Germany: results of the Microcensus 1995

Objectives: The negative health effects of cigarette smoking are nowadays w ell known. An important prerequisite for the implementation of rewarding he alth promotion campaigns aiming at reducing the tobacco dependency in the g eneral population is the knowledge about smoking prevalences in different s ocial population groups, and specific information about social factors and determinants influencing smoking behaviour. Methods: in this regard. the Microcensus is a very valuable data source for Germany. Included in the present analysis are persons aged 18 years and ol der, which are present in the "Microcensus Public Use File 1995" and had an swered the questions about their smoking behaviour (N = 186424). The depend ent study variable is current cigarette smoking. independent study variable s are sociodemographic factors (age, sex, family status), occupational stat us, unemployment, socio-economic situation and regional-specific variables (size of community, East vs West Germany). Results: All together, 30.5% of the males and 18.0% of the females were Cur rent smokers, Significantly higher smoking rates were observed for persons living in metropolitan areas, persons with low educational achievement and low occupational status, for people being divorced, unemployed, and living on social welfare. In a second step, we analysed the cumulative effect of t hese social factors for current smoking status, In summary, it was found th at the cumulation of social determinants explained a great part of the vari ance in smoking prevalence, Current smoking was four to six times more prev alent in population groups characterised by several unfavourable social con ditions compared to more privileg population groups. Conclusions: Thus, smoking related prevention activities should be evaluate d, among others, regarding their potential to reduce the social polarisatio n of the smoking epidemic.