Table 2

Age-standardised rates of smoking cessation among males aged 20–44 according to the two surveys

Survey	Period	Age-standardised rates (per 100 person-years)		Person-years	Difference (95% CI)	Rate ratio (95% CI)
Survey	Period	Higher educated	Lower educated	Person-years	Difference (95% CI)	Rate ratio (95% CI)
Older (1999–2000)	1982–1984	2.56	1.74	37 328	0.82 (0.45 to 1.19)	1.47 (1.25 to 1.72)
	1985–1987	2.69	2.46	36 124	0.23 (−0.15 to 0.61)	1.09 (0.95 to 1.26)
	1988–1990	2.46	2.33	34 631	0.13 (−0.23 to 0.49)	1.06 (0.91 to 1.23)
	1991–1993	2.15	1.85	33 167	0.30 (−0.03 to 0.63)	1.16 (0.99 to 1.36)
	1994–1996	2.46	2.03	31 905	0.43 (0.08 to 0.78)	1.21 (1.04 to 1.41)
Recent (2004–2005)	1982–1984	2.32	1.76	31 779	0.57 (0.20 to 0.93)	1.32 (1.11 to 1.57)
	1985–1987	2.36	2.09	31 408	0.27 (−0.11 to 0.65)	1.13 (0.95 to 1.33)
	1988–1990	2.49	1.93	30 951	0.56 (0.19 to 0.93)	1.29 (1.10 to 1.52)
	1991–1993	2.39	1.82	30 047	0.58 (0.22 to 0.93)	1.32 (1.12 to 1.55)
	1994–1996	2.23	1.82	29 247	0.41 (0.07 to 0.76)	1.23 (1.04 to 1.45)
	1997–1999	2.69	1.89	27 311	0.79 (0.41 to 1.18)	1.42 (1.21 to 1.69)
	2000–2002	4.05	2.76	25 299	1.29 (0.81 to 1.78)	1.47 (1.28 to 1.69)
	1982–2002*	2.62	1.97	206 042	0.65 (0.50 to 0.79)	1.33 (1.25 to 1.41)

*Estimates of smoking cessation rates for the period 1982–2002 are based on the most recent survey.