Letter to the EditorSmoking in Italy 2008–2009: A rise in prevalence related to the economic crisis?
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Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted with the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Health, the Italian League Against Cancer and the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC). IT was supported by a fellowship from the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC).
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2017, Environmental ResearchCitation Excerpt :Economic crisis may affect smoking behavior, but current research provides discrepant results. In the last decades of XX century in the US, periods of economic recessions led to a decrease in the smoking prevalence (Ruhm, 2005) whilst in Italy the smoking prevalence increased in 2009 compared with 2008 possibly due to the economic crisis (Gallus et al., 2011). Some population groups (i.e., poor, young people) may react in two different ways to economical crisis.
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2016, AtherosclerosisCitation Excerpt :Despite the aforementioned data, we cannot draw the conclusion that economic crisis itself had a positive impact on the metabolic profile of stroke patients, as other possible confounding factors (as e.g. increased health style awareness) should also be taken into consideration. An abrupt increase in the prevalence of smoking, after decades of continuous decline, was noted during the peak of financial recession and (2008–2009) in Italy [15]. Despite reduction in wages and increase in unemployment, smoking relapses and cigarette sales have been recorded to increase during periods of economic difficulty, as periods of economic crisis are accompanied with increased levels of stress, depression and substance abuse [16].
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