Warmer Summer Surface Air Temperatures Increase the Risk of Cigarette Smoking Consumption Among Young and Older Men

Abstract:

Despite the implementation of numerous interventions and government policies over the years, cigarette smoking still remains one of the many leading public health concerns, among high-income countries. Recent research has documented the associations between summer rainfall, surface air temperatures, and severe heat to elevated community cigarette smoking rates, proposing that the environment can act as a stressor signal to evoke smoking habits. However, the effects of summer surface air temperature and rainfall on population level cigarette smoking by age and sex-specific groups has not been understood. Hence we investigate the association of average summer (May-August) surface air temperatures and total summer rainfall (≥1mm) days to average daily cigarette consumption among men and women of various age-groups (25-34, 35-49, 50-59, ≥60 years old) residing in England, United Kingdom, throughout the period of 2000-2017. After controlling for the trend and summer rainfall days, we found that a 1°C increase in average summer surface air temperatures significantly increased the risk of daily cigarette consumption by ~9% (P<0.01), in men, for two age groups: youth (25-34 years) and old (≥60 years). The associations with various age-groups for women were insignificant. Moreover, summer rainfall days was found to be an insignificant covariate in our model for all age groups and sexes. This research suggests that aside from social influences, climate change can also act as a stimulus in modulating cigarette smoking habits in young and older men. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of smoking habits in an era of climate change among high-income countries.