Table 2.
Percent distribution * of European ex-smokers aged ≥65 years, according to the most important reason that led them to quit smoking, overall and in strata of selected characteristics. PPACTE, 2010.
| N ex smokers aged ≥65 | Reason to quit (%) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illness (any medical condition) | Knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking | Physician’s advice | Economic reasons (cigarettes too expensive) | Pressure to quit by partner/ relatives |
Pregnancy/birth of a child | Smoke-free legislation | Employer reluctance to hire smokers | Other reasons | |||
| Total | 693 | 39.8 | 19.5 | 9.6 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 19.1 | |
| Sex | |||||||||||
| Men | 465 | 42.1 | 19.7 | 10.2 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 19.0 | |
| Women | 228 | 35.7 | 19.2 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.3 | |
| Age (years) | |||||||||||
| 65–74 | 453 | 40.6 | 23.0 | 9.1 | 5.3 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 16.8 | |
| ≥75 | 240 | 38.3 | 13.6 | 10.4 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 3.9 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 23.0 | |
| Education^ | |||||||||||
| Low | 339 | 45.0 | 15.8 | 10.6 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 18.1 | |
| Intermediate | 236 | 33.3 | 21.8 | 9.9 | 7.4 | 5.6 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 19.6 | |
| High | 117 | 31.7 | 29.3 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 7.0 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 22.9 | |
| Geographic area | |||||||||||
| Northern Europe | 291 | 32.3 | 20.9 | 8.5 | 8.9 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 23.8 | |
| Western Europe | 99 | 39.6 | 12.8 | 7.6 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 4.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 33.7 | |
| Southern Europe | 93 | 52.4 | 27.1 | 7.4 | 1.1 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | |
| Eastern and central Europe | 210 | 38.9 | 14.3 | 19.3 | 9.2 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.6 | |
| Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) # | |||||||||||
| <45 | 212 | 28.7 | 14.6 | 27.9 | 9.4 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 7.9 | |
| ≥45 | 446 | 41.5 | 20.4 | 6.5 | 4.7 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 20.9 | |
* Prevalence estimates were computed weighting each country in proportion to the country specific population aged 15 years or over; ^ The sum does not add up to the total because of some missing values; ° Classification of countries. Northern Europe: FI, IE, SE, UK; Western Europe: AT, FR; Southern Europe: ES, GR, IT, PT; Eastern and central Europe: AL, BG, CZ, HR, HU, LV, PL, RO. TCS<45: AT, BG, CZ, HU, LV, PL, PT; TCS ≥45: ES, FI, FR, IE, IT, RO, SE, UK; # Albania and Croatia were excluded.