A CONFERENCE aimed at tackling health risks related to smoking takes place today in the wake of findings that female smokers outnumber male in the North East.
Academics say it is rare to find a region where women smokers outnumber men.
The conference at Collingwood College, South Road, Durham, is being jointly held by Durham University’s Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) and Durham Forum For Health.
IHRR’s Dr Andrew Russell will be exploring the reasons why more women than men smoke in the North East, while his colleague Dr Sue Lewis will concentrate on why many young people in the region expose themselves to the risks from smoking, often from a young age.
Dr Russell said: “Not just nationally but globally, it’s very uncommon to find regions where smoking rates for women are higher than those of men, so the situation here in the North East is highly unusual.
“Not only do more women than men smoke here, but while men’s smoking rates have declined dramatically over the past few years and now appear lower than the national average, women’s smoking rates have not declined nearly so fast and appear to have plateaued at a level higher than the national average.
“Smoking rates are highest in areas of greatest economic deprivation and also go up in times of recession.
“We need to consider whether for some women, smoking is a response to stress in their lives, one of the few ‘pleasures’ that are relatively easily acquired.
“The tobacco industry has had a large part to play in encouraging more women to take up smoking by perpetuating the myth of smoking as glamorous, risqué and a form of defiance.
“New brands come out all the time aimed at women.
“We’re proposing a cross-cultural study looking at women’s relationship to tobacco in other societies in order to understand how best to tackle the situation in the North East of England. I’ll be outlining my plans at this meeting.
Dr Lewis said: “To try to help young people quit smoking or not take it up in the first place, we first need to understand the particular issues faced by young smokers – and those trying not to be smokers – in disadvantaged communities, what particular pressures they faced when they started smoking, what factors encouraged continued smoking and what makes it particularly difficult to quit.
“Our research included interviewing young people at a youth club in County Durham in an ex-mining village which, according to the Index of Deprivation Score, is in the 10% most deprived wards in a county that is already among the most deprived nationally.
“These young people spoke of the social pressures of smoking, that you’re left out if you don’t and at as young as eight-years-old, the older kids hassle them into taking up the habit.
“It has become a status thing, an identity formation issue, an aspect of personhood and therefore not as simple as – and far more insidious than – mere peer pressure. One particular young girl talked about her depression over her smoking addiction – there’s clearly not even any pleasure there to offset the obvious risks.
“Also plain was the ease with which youngsters gained access to cigarettes, talking of the ‘fag houses’ where people would sell them cigarettes in ones or twos no matter what their age.”
Dr Russell and Dr Lewis will be joined by Anna Lynch, the NHS’ Director of Public Health in County Durham who will be speaking about the work her organisation does to reduce smoking and also on alcohol-related issues.
“How Can We Change Health Risky Behaviour” takes place today at the Dales Suite, Collingwood College, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LT at 6pm.
