The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking Behaviour: Evidence from the English Longitudin
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Gaggero
A.
The Consequences of the
COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking Behaviour: Evidence from the English Longitudinal
Study of Ageing.
[published online ahead of print, 2022 Apr 13]. Nicotine Tob Res.
2022;ntac097. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntac097
Introduction.
Smoking is a risk factor for progression of COVID-19, with smokers having
higher odds of COVID-19 progression than never-smokers. This study presents
novel findings on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking behaviour in
older adults.
Methods.
Panel data were obtained from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N=
60160, 12% smokers, 55% women, 62% married, mean age = 67 years, 23% employed).
Fixed effect regression models were used to estimate the extent to which the
COVID-19 pandemic affected smoking behaviour. A separate model was estimated
for men, women, employed, and retired.
Results.
The findings suggest a significant and positive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic
on smoking behaviour (β= 0.024; p<0.001). The estimated effects were
stronger for men and for the sample of individuals reporting being employed.
Conclusions.
In this study, I provide robust evidence of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic
on smoking behaviour using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. This large
and representative dataset is uniquely suited for the analysis. I find evidence
that the proportion of smokers has increased significantly as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Implications.
In the UK, the proportion of smokers increased significantly as a consequence
of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that smoking behaviour may
have been used as a mechanism to cope with depression, stress, and anxiety due
to the COVID-19 outbreak. To the extent to which smoking behaviour has been
used as a coping mechanism to deal with job-related issues, targeted policy
action to provide financial stability to those in worse economic situations may
be have beneficial effects on smoking behaviour.
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