Prevalence of tobacco smoking in Switzerland: do reported numbers underestimate reality?

Details

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_D8AA0734A0E5
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Prevalence of tobacco smoking in Switzerland: do reported numbers underestimate reality?
Journal
Swiss medical weekly
Author(s)
Jakob J., Cornuz J., Diethelm P.
ISSN
1424-3997 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0036-7672
Publication state
Published
Issued date
21/06/2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
147
Pages
w14437
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
Surveys on tobacco consumption represent an important decision aid for public health policy related to smoking. Although Switzerland's tobacco control policies and regulations are among the weakest, its reported smoking prevalence is among the lowest in Europe. However, there appears to be a discrepancy between reported prevalence and aggregate data on national cigarette consumption. Our purpose was to closely look at this discrepancy and study its significance.
Calculation of national aggregate tobacco consumption by Switzerland's resident population for the years 2012 to 2015 and comparison with reported consumption derived from survey results on smoking prevalence and intensity. Comparison with similar data for France for year 2014. Evaluation of several hypotheses to explain the discrepancy between survey results and national aggregate consumption data.
There was a large discrepancy of about 45% between reported smoking consumption implied by survey results and estimated actual consumption derived from aggregate data on sales. Whereas survey results suggest smoking prevalence in Switzerland to be around 25% and rather stable during the period 2012 to 2015, true prevalence could be greater than 31%.
The results of surveys aiming to estimate smoking prevalence and intensity in Switzerland may substantially suffer from underreporting, misreporting and sampling bias. Survey methodology needs to be examined to see whether such reporting discrepancy can be reduced.
Keywords
Data Collection/methods, Female, Humans, Male, Population Surveillance, Prevalence, Public Policy, Selection Bias, Smoking/adverse effects, Smoking/epidemiology, Switzerland
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
26/06/2017 7:27
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:58
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