Can national smoking prevalence be monitored using primary care medical records data?

Background

Databases of electronic primary care records are widely used for research, but not currently as a source of national statistics on lifestyle issues such as smoking. There has been little contemporary research conducted into the quality of smoking data held within primary care, particularly since the introduction of the Quality and Outcomes Framework. This research is vital to assess the potential for using these large, longitudinal databases to monitor smoking trends.

Objectives

To compare smoking data recorded within The Health...