31.05.16
Hospital admissions caused by smoking increase by 5% in last decade
Hospital admissions caused by smoking are at their highest in 10 years despite a decline overall, according to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
In 2014-15, there were 475,000 hospital admissions for conditions estimated to be caused by smoking, a 5% increase since 2004-05.
These included 28% of all admissions for respiratory diseases and 48% of all admissions for cancers that could be caused by smoking.
There were also 1.7 million admissions for conditions that could be caused by smoking, a 22% increase in the last decade.
The proportion of smoking-related deaths for conditions that can be caused by smoking increased from 31% to 33%, although the overall number of deaths estimated to be caused by smoking declined from 90,000 to 78,000.
The report also found that in 2014 19% of adults in Britain smoked, down from a peak of 46% in 1974, and the average number of cigarettes smoked a day was 11, the lowest since records began, when it was 16.
The proportion of smokers in the most deprived areas was 39%, compared to 15% in the least deprived areas.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “It’s good news that the number of people dying from smoking continues to fall but smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable ill-health and death in the UK and the number admitted to hospital with smoking-related diseases is still going up.
“If we are to reduce the burden of smoking-related disease on the over-stretched NHS it is essential that smokers are given the best possible support to quit. Yet funding for stop smoking services, which can increase success in quitting up to four times, is being cut.”
According to the HSCIC, in 2015 just 4% of adults in Britain were e-cigarette users and more secondary school pupils had tried e-cigarettes (22%) than traditional cigarettes (18%).
The Royal College of Physicians recently recommended promoting e-cigarettes to help people stop smoking.
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.