Methodological Notes – Health Behaviour Module
Updated: January 2019
Concepts and Definitions
It is well established that some personal behaviours or lifestyles are associated with the development of certain diseases and health problems. Of particular importance are such behaviours as smoking, diet, alcohol and drug use, physical activity, sexual behaviour, and safety practices. The modification of such behaviours has become the core activity of health promotion programs.
Monitoring such behaviours usually requires surveys based on interviews with respondents who are asked specific questions. Despite the existence of numerous health interview surveys in all the developed countries, international standardization is rare. Only one behaviour is included in CircHOB for the time being – smoking. Smoking is among the most important health determinants or risk factors, and it is basic information collected by most health surveys. Even so, there is considerable inconsistency in how smoking is measured and categorized.
On the basis of a set of questions, individuals can be categorized into never smokers, former smokers, and current smokers. Among the last group, it can be further divided into those who smoke daily and those only irregularly, or occasionally. The prevalence of daily smoking among adults are more comparable across countries and surveys, although there are still significant differences, and caution is needed when interpreting the data.
Although cigarettes are the most widely used vehicles in delivering tobacco, other forms such as pipes, cigars and smokeless tobacco are also used. Although it is not always explicitly stated in survey reports, it is cigarette smoking that is usually asked and recorded.
In addition to frequency, estimates of the duration of use and the amount consumed per day can also be derived from surveys. Increasingly issues such as ages of initiation and cessation, attempt at quitting, attitudes towards smoking, knowledge of its health effects, and exposure to passive smoking at home and at work are also part of smoking surveys.
Data Sources and Limitations
CircHOB presents the proportion of daily smokers in the adult population, separately for men and women. The lower limit of “adult” differs – 15, 16, 18, etc. Some surveys have no upper age limits, while other surveys are truncated at 75 or even 65. In the case of annual surveys, data are pooled averaged into 5-year periods. Where surveys are conducted less frequently, data from a year close to the midpoint of each period are presented. The upper age limit is set to be as close to 75 as possible, to achieve comparability of the “adult” rate. Where available, “youth” smoking prevalence (age group 15-24) is also presented.
National smoking prevalence data are available from OECD Health > Non-medical determinants of health > Tobacco consumption. Regional data are obtained from national surveys.
