Decline in smoking in England has stalled since pandemic

A decades-long decline in smoking prevalence in England has nearly ground to a halt since the start of the pandemic, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the journal BMC Medicine , looked at survey responses from 101,960 adults between June 2017 and August 2022. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, from June 2017 to February 2020, smoking prevalence fell by 5.2% a year, but this rate of decline slowed to 0.3% during the pandemic (from April 2020 to August 2022), the study found. This stall in the decline of smoking was particularly pronounced among advantaged social groups. Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said: "Smoking prevalence has been falling among adults in England at a steady rate for more than 20 years. Our data show that this decline has stalled, with an increase in quitting potentially having been offset by a rise in people taking up smoking or an increase in late relapse. "These findings make bold policy action more urgent.