Smoking Survey Shows Shepway as Kent's Fourth Heaviest Smokers

10.57.13pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 22nd Aug 2005

A new report showing the true extent to which smoking affects the lives of people in the South East has been launched by the South East Public Health Observatory (SEPHO). The report shows the proportion of people that smoke in each Local Authority in the South East and has new figures showing the cost of smoking to business and to the NHS in the region.

New data shows that 21% of people in the South East aged 18 years or older currently smoke. It also shows that, out of the 10 local authorities with the highest smoking prevalence in the region, four are from Kent: Thanet at 31%, Dover at 28% and Swale at 27% and Shepway at 26%.

Other key findings from the SEPHO report include:

• Smoking rates in South East have not declined over the past few years

• Almost 1 in 4 deaths of people aged 35-64 are due to smoking in the South East

• More than two thirds of regular smokers started smoking between the ages of 14 and 16

• In the South East over 44,000 people were admitted to hospital with smoking related conditions in 2003/04, with an estimated cost to the health service of around £238 million

• It is estimated that £134 million of outpatient attendance costs and prescription costs a year can be attributed to smokers in the South East

• An estimated £370 million a year is lost to businesses due to sick days taken from smoking in the South East

• The estimated cost to businesses from cigarette breaks in the South East is £1.2bn a year

• The estimated economic cost of smoking related fires to the South East region is almost £15.5million a year

• An estimated 41% of deaths due to fires were caused by smoking materials.