In February 2020, the Institute of Health Equity published its landmark report, Marmot Review 10 Years On. It highlighted that for the first time in 100 years, life expectancy has failed to increase across the country, and for the poorest 10% of women it has actually declined. The report went on to state that in the last decade, health inequalities have widened overall, and the amount of time people spend in poor health has increased since 2010.

In this, the first in our series on respiratory health, health inequality, and inequity we will be exploring some of the health inequalities that impact respiratory health, and in this issue we’ll cover tobacco smoking.