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Audit, research and guideline update
Prevalence of smoking among patients treated in NHS hospitals in England in 2010/2011: a national audit
  1. L Szatkowski1,
  2. R Murray1,
  3. R Hubbard1,
  4. S Agrawal2,
  5. Y Huang1,
  6. J Britton1
  1. 1Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Nottingham, Clinical Sciences Building, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham, UK
  2. 2Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Institute for Lung Health, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Lisa Szatkowski, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Nottingham, Clinical Sciences Building, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK; lisa.szatkowski{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract

Using data from The Health Improvement Network and Hospital Episode Statistics, we investigate smoking prevalence, number of smokers treated and opportunities for cessation intervention among patients treated in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England from April 2010 to March 2011. Our results show that approximately 1.1 million smokers are treated in English hospitals each year, receiving a total of 2.6 million episodes of care. These findings suggest that delivering smoking cessation as a routine component of hospital care, as recommended by recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, could achieve marked reductions in the prevalence of smoking and improve the cost-effectiveness of NHS hospitals.

  • Tobacco and the lung

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