Fewer people aged 35 and over are dying in England because of their smoking habit, figures suggest, although hospital admissions linked to tobacco usage are rising slightly.

From 2003-13 – a decade which saw the introduction of a ban on smoking in public places and a rise in cigarette prices – the proportion of all deaths in the 35+ age group estimated to be caused by smoking fell from 19% to 17%.

But the figures, published by the government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) on Friday, were greeted cautiously by anti-tobacco campaigners.

Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said tobacco-related deaths were still unacceptably high. The campaign group also expressed concern that the help to quit provided by the NHS was being reduced.

The figures – which were gathered from a range of sources and covered different periods – are intended to give a broad picture of health issues related to smoking.

The report does not give any cause for rising hospital admissions, but reasons are likely to include population changes coupled with improving treatments and survival rates.

In 2013, 78,200 deaths among people aged 35 or older in England were estimated to be caused by smoking compared with 95,300 in 2003. Smoking accounts for more than 70% of deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease, cancers of the trachea, larynx and lung, and from chronic airway obstruction.

The report showed that an estimated 454,700 hospital admissions, 4% of the total for the age group, were attributable to smoking in 2013-14, compared with 447,300 (6%) in 2003-4l. Men outnumbered women in both deaths and hospital admissions.

Fewer than one in five people over 16 smoked in 2013, the lowest proportion since recording started in the 1940s. More than a quarter smoked in 2003. Less than a quarter of 11- to 15-year-olds say they have tried smoking, the lowest level since recording of this age group started in 1982.

Hazel Cheeseman, policy director at Ash, said: “Death and illness from smoking continue to remain unacceptably high despite falling smoking rates. It is worrying that a time when the NHS is facing real funding pressures smokers are getting less help to quit than they were five years ago.

“Helping people to quit smoking is one of the most cost effective healthcare interventions and helps to save both lives and money.”



The number of prescriptions for treating smoking dependency dropped from a peak of 2.6m in 2010-11 to 1.8m in 2013-14.

Cheeseman recognised rising use of e-cigarettes might be a factor, but said people who found quitting smoking most difficult would benefit from properly structured, evidence-based support from the NHS.

The British Heart Foundation said tobacco products still killed about half the people who used them and doubled a person’s chance of having a heart attack or stroke.

Mike Hobday, its director of policy, said: “These figures show current strategies to help people quit smoking aren’t going far enough … The government urgently needs a new strategy to help people stop smoking. With tobacco companies continually raising their prices, this needs to include an annual levy on these companies to fund tobacco control and stop smoking services to help support people to quit.”

Chris Woodhall, senior policy adviser at Cancer Research UK, said: “We want to see a tobacco-free country within the next 20 years – where fewer than five per cent of adults smoke. Falling smoking rates among adults and children show that we’re moving in the right direction, but we must do more to realise this ambitious public health goal.”



The report came as research suggested that banning smoking in public places in England had cut hospital admissions for children by 11,000 a year.



Smoking in work vehicles is already banned and the prohibition will be extended to private cars carrying children in October.