Characteristics of current and ex-smokers by sex and age of starting to smoke
| Male smokers (n = 1294) | Male ex-smokers (n = 5792) | Female smokers (n = 1416) | Female ex-smokers (n = 4002) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Childhood | Adulthood | Childhood | Adulthood | Childhood | Adulthood | Childhood | Adulthood | |
| Figures are mean (SD) or % (n). | ||||||||
| Cigarettes per day = the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day while an active smoker. | ||||||||
| “Any OAD” is defined as the presence of doctor diagnosed asthma or doctor diagnosed bronchitis/emphysema, or self- reported taking of medication for airways disease. | ||||||||
| *p<0.05, †p⩽0.01, ‡p⩽0.001 for the difference within smoking categories between those who started to smoke in childhood (age <16 years) and those who started in adulthood (age ⩾16 years). | ||||||||
| Percentage (n) | 37.2 (481) | 62.8 (813) | 27.2 (1575) | 72.8 (4217) | 16.2 (230) | 83.8 (1186) | 12.0 (481) | 88.0 (3521) |
| Age (years) | 56.8 (8.9) | 57.6 (8.9) | 60.4‡ (9.2) | 61.5‡ (9.2) | 53.7‡ (8.1) | 56.7‡ (8.7) | 56.2‡ (9.4) | 60.1‡ (9.6) |
| Age started smoking (years) | 13.9‡ (1.6) | 18.4‡ (4.0) | 14.1‡ (1.3) | 18.3‡ (3.2) | 14.4‡ (1.1) | 20.5‡ (6.1) | 14.4‡ (1.0) | 20.0‡ (5.2) |
| Cigarettes per day | 19.2‡ (7.1) | 16.3‡ (7.1) | 20.3‡ (9.9) | 15.9‡ (9.2) | 15.5‡ (5.9) | 13.2‡ (5.9) | 15.6‡ (8.0) | 10.8‡ (7.3) |
| Years of smoking | 42.9‡ (9.2) | 39.2‡ (9.4) | 23.9‡ (15.8) | 19.2‡ (14.2) | 39.3‡ (8.3) | 36.2‡ (9.6) | 23.3‡ (14.6) | 18.2‡ (13.3) |
| Pack years | 38.1‡ (17.8) | 29.2‡ (15.9) | 26.1‡ (20.3) | 16.6‡ (16.1) | 28.0‡ (13.2) | 22.7‡ (13.3) | 19.6‡ (15.2) | 11.3‡ (12.2) |
| Asthma, % (n) | 5.4 (26) | 6.8 (55) | 8.8 (138) | 7.9 (334) | 11.3* (26) | 7.3* (86) | 12.7 (61) | 10.3 (362) |
| Bronchitis/emphysema, % (n) | 11.5 (55) | 10.5 (85) | 11.6† (182) | 9.2† (389) | 21.3‡ (49) | 13.2‡ (156) | 14.0* (67) | 10.4* (366) |
| “Any OAD”, % (n) | 16.3 (78) | 14.6 (199) | 17.9* (281) | 15.3* (644) | 27.8‡ (64) | 18.3‡ (217) | 23.5† (113) | 18.6† (653) |