Prevalence of smoking and smoking cessation and associated factors in diabetes population aged 50 years and over in Europe

The aim of this study was to determine prevalence of smokers and ex-smokers in the older diabetes population in Europe and to evaluate the relationship with various sociodemographic and lifestyle risk factors. This epidemiological study used Wave 8 of the multidisciplinary and cross-national SHARE database, which includes cross-sectional data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of individuals aged 50 and over from 27 European countries. Among the 6,903 participants with diabetes, 12.2% were current smokers, 29.9% were former smokers and 57.9% had never smoked. Among countries' diabetes populations, the highest prevalence of ex-smokers (57.6%) with a low prevalence of smokers (9.5%) was seen in the Netherlands. The highest prevalence of never-smokers (84.2%) was found in Latvia, with the lowest prevalence of ex-smokers (7.9%). Austria had the highest prevalence of current smokers (17.9%) along with a below-average prevalence of ex-smokers (26.5%) was seen in Austria. Normal weight, being overweight, lower education, living without a partner, living in larger cities, drinking alcohol in the last 7 days, lower age, and being male were associated with a higher risk of being a current smoker. The study shows high prevalence of smoking among the older diabetes population in Europe and provides data on the association of smoking with several risk factors and country-specific differences in smoking prevalence.