Peru: Significant reduction in adult smoking during the pandemic

Researchers sought to determine the evolution of the prevalence of current smoking, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Peruvian adult population. The results show that in Peru, there was a significant decrease in the prevalence of current tobacco use in the entire adult population in 2020, with significant declines in some subgroups[1].

The prevalence of past 30-day tobacco use was estimated by sex, from the 2019 and 2020 Demographic and Family Health Surveys.

Significant reduction in tobacco consumption among Peruvian women

A total of 61,206 respondents were included in the analysis. The prevalence of current tobacco use was 11.2% in 2019 (men: 18.7%; women: 4.1%) and 8% in 2020 (men: 13.5%; women: 2.8%). Compared with 2019, the largest reductions in tobacco use in 2020 were reported among women aged 60+ (-64%), with low education (-66%), from the lowest wealth quintile (-70%), and living in cities (-66%) and mountains (-56%).

Among men, reductions in tobacco use were particularly significant among those aged over 60 (-60 %), those with higher education (-42 %), those in the highest income quintile (-28 %), residing in rural areas (-41 %), small towns (-43 %) and mountainous areas (-45 %).

An encouraging reduction that must be continued

According to the authors, these results could be attributed to the emotional responses (fear, anxiety) generated by the dissemination of epidemiological studies and health recommendations that associated smoking with a higher risk of severity and death from COVID-19. But also a reduction in income and the many lockdowns, leading to lower consumption compared to 2019.

The authors add that while the reduction in tobacco use in Peru during the pandemic is encouraging, it is also time to put back on the agenda the measures established in the World Health Organization's Framework Convention, which the country ratified in 2004, and to continue efforts to achieve control of the tobacco epidemic.

Keywords: Peru, smoking, covid19, pandemic, women

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