Tobacco smoking as a social justice issue: Advances in research

摘要

Smoking has been found to be the strongest mediator of social inequality in all-cause mortality when a range of health behaviours are considered [1]. A social gradient in smoking exists whereby smoking prevalence rates rise as one moves down the socioeconomic scale in developed countries including Australia, the USA and the UK, regardless of how social status is defined [2]. Clearly, understanding why the social gradient exists and developing effective strategies for reducing smoking among socially disadvantaged groups is a major public health priority.