The price of tobacco is a very important reason to quit smoking

A national study published in the journal BMJ Public Health and developed by the Department of Behavioral and Health Sciences at University College London and the SPECTRUM consortium in Edinburgh shows that cost of tobacco now this key factor for one in four smokers in the UK to quit.

Despite this,health problems they are still the main reason For Quit smoking.

The researchers explain that main reasons Why do people usually try to quit smoking? health problemstogether with social and financial problemsExcept professional advice About health.

They were based on responses to monthly survey during the representative sampling process about 1700 adults In England.

Given this change in mentalityget much more saving potentials could inspire more people leave the business forever, researchers suggest.

Study

They were watching temporal trends in motives try to quit smoking between March 2018 and May 2023 by studying differences by age, sex, socio-economic level, presence of children home and vaping status.

Responses were limited to those who were current smokers or what quit smoking in the last yearas well as those who have done at least serious attempt to quit smoking during this time.

Respondents were asked to name reasons for his latest attempt and out of 101,919 respondents, 17,812 reported smoked last year.

Of these, 17,031 (96%) has provided data on attempts to quit smoking over the last 12 months, of which 5.7777 (3.4%) reported that he did at least serious attempt do it.

Main reasons

Health problems were cited as the main reason more than half of the sample (52%) for the entire period.

Especially, concerns about future health reported by more than 1 in 3 (35.5%) compared to 1 in 5 (19%). who were motivated by current health concerns.

Price was the next most frequently cited cause, reported by almost 1 out of 4 (23%)followed bysocial factorsreported about 1 in 5 (19%) And professional advice About health(12%).

About 4% said they motivated by health warnings on packaging cigarettes, while Restrictions they started smoking 3.5% try to stop.

Just over 3% named a simple decision to quit smoking. The remaining reasons attracted only about 1% each.

Comparison between years

Until the beginning of 2020, every second attempt to quit smoking was motivated by health problems. Specifically, 1 of 5 due to problems with health current (20%) and 1 of 3 on health issues future (3.4%).

Every fifth was socially motivated (twenty%) and cost (20%) and 1 in 6 on the advice of a professional sanitary (16.5%).

Yes, sure few overall changes proportion of quit attempts motivated by health problems, proportion of quit attempts motivated by costs has increased significantly

. It happened because of what happened just over 19% in March 2018, a little less 25.5% in May 2023.

However, the share of intentions motivated by professional advice it was reduced throughout the entire period of study, starting from just over 14% in March 2018 at 8.5% in May 2023.

Pandemic and smoking

A pandemic is likely COVID-19, which began affecting England in March 2020, influenced in the share of respondents.

Researchers speculate that this could happen due to loss of income and job for many people.

They admit a few warnings about your findings, for example, the fact that all data in the study were self-reported and based on personal memories.

May not apply to other countries with different attitudes towards smoking, tobacco control policies and service delivery. Show that cost is becoming an increasingly important factor this motivates people to try to quit smoking.

That’s why, report potential savings what people can gain from quitting smoking (even if they switch to alternative nicotine products) “can be an effective means of motivating attempts“, they explain.

They conclude that “these results have implications for intervention quit smoking andinto clinical practice.”