Tobacco consumption is declining in France, with one million smokers in least 2017, except for women 45 to 64 years of age, whose mortality related to cigarette smoking increases, underscored, Tuesday, October 30, the organizers of the “Month without tobacco” on the occasion of the launch of the third edition of this manifestaion.

The site and the number of call – 3989 – of the Month without tobacco have been launched this year with a few days before, September 28, and 185 000 smokers are already registered.

The women began smoking en masse in the 1970s, and it is this generation that is now affected by diseases previously considered as exclusively male : lung cancer, myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

According to the public Health agency of France (SpF), the consumption of tobacco has declined in france in 2017 except for women 45 to 54 years of age, who account for 30.8% of smokers in 2017 (24 % for women in general) compared to 21.5% in 2000.

however, the number of deaths attributed to smoking has been a two-fold increase in women between 2000 and 2014. For the same period, lung cancer mortality has increased by 71 % in women, whereas it decreased by 15 % in men. The increase is particularly marked in women aged 55 to 64 years of age. “We’re going to see very soon the death rate from cancer of the lung pass in front of one of the breast cancer,” warns Dr. François Bourdillon, general manager of SpF, on the occasion of the launch of the ” Month without tobacco “.

In five charts : Display the consumption of tobacco

Pregnant smoking

” women are often afraid of fat if they quit smoking, whereas we know that with a good cover, it does not grow, it is all the interest of a follow-up as the Tobacco Info Service “, stressed the minister of solidarity and health, Agnès Buzyn.

public health policies do not address yet specifically for women smokers, but “in 2019, the campaign against alcohol during the pregnancy will likely double a campaign against tobacco,” said François-Xavier Brouck, director of the insured to the Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie.

Because even pregnant, too many women still smoke : 16 % do so in late pregnancy, is one of the highest rates in Europe (between 5 % and 10 % in the United Kingdom and in the countries of the North). However, maternal smoking is a major risk factor for the mother as for the baby, increasing the risks of low weight, premature birth and perinatal mortality.

About 30 % of women who smoked before pregnancy, by 2016, around half have stopped before the third quarter (45.8 %) and 45 % have reduced their consumption, but without stopping completely. The pregnancy is for half of the smokers the opportunity to stop permanently but 82 % resume after childbirth : a “missed opportunity” which militates in favor of a particular support of the women even after pregnancy, in their interest as in that of the baby who will be less exposed to tobacco.

With twelve million smokers and 200 deaths per day, “a plane crash” on a daily basis, tobacco remains a major cause of public health in France, recalled Agnès Buzyn, which aims at achieving ” first-generation adult non-smoker by 2032 “.