Wiener Gesundheits- und Sozialsurvey Vienna Health and Social ...

aged 74 and above are former smokers. The survey
found nicotine consumption more widespread among
less educated people and those in lower positions. The
share of non-smokers rises with education and career
level. This is also reflected by the fact that the biggest
group of smokers by far is found in districts with a high
percentage of blue-collar workers and foreigners. The
number of smokers is lowest in districts with the highest
income level. Both men and women start smoking at a
much earlier age than used to be the case, the average
age for first-time smokers being 15. As a rule, the older
the interviewees, the later in life they started smoking.
In total, more men than women have smoked hashish.
All the 45 to 59 year old men reported to have tried
hashish at least once in their lives: 84 percent claim to
have done so earlier in life, while 16 percent did so within
the course of the previous month. On the whole, hashish
consumption is most frequent among people of higher
classes living in districts with the highest income level.
The frequency of voluntary screening tests increases
with age with no apparent gender differences, the exception
being people aged 74 and above who frequently already
are in medical treatment. Young people are seldom
interested in voluntary screening tests, approximately
half of them have never had this done. There
seems to be no direct link between the level of education
and the frequency of voluntary screening tests. Approximately
30 percent of women who have completed an apprenticeship
or have graduated from secondary education,
and equally as many men who have completed an
apprenticeship or have graduated from university claim
to have had voluntary screening tests in the past year. 50
percent of men with compulsory schooling only have not
had voluntary screening tests. Special screening tests for
women, such as pap smears or mammography, are
undergone more frequently with increasing age, with a
noticeable drop in testing frequency among women aged
75 and above. 31 percent of young women have not undergone
any of these tests, 74 percent have never had a
mammography. The frequency of pap smears increases
with the level of education, while the same cannot be
said for the frequency of mammographies. 40 percent of
women with an apprenticeship had a mammography in
the course of the past year, while university graduates
are least likely to have had this kind of examination performed
(40 percent have never undergone this test). Only
50 percent of women without qualifications had a pap
smear in the course of the past year. Women with quali-
WIENER GESUNDHEITS- UND SOZIALSURVEY
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
fications had mammographies performed most frequently
in the past year, 39 percent of university graduates
did not. For men, the frequency of prostate examinations
increases with age and professional status.
Women and elderly people tend to take medication as a
remedy more often than others interviewed. Most frequently
used are antihypertensive medication, particularly
by men and women aged 60 and above, followed by
cardiac medication for people aged 74 and above. It is
interesting to note that men tend to rely on cardiovascular
medication slightly more often than women, which is
not true for other kinds of medication. Painkillers as a
remedy for muscle, bone, tendon or joint aches are most
frequently used by women aged 60 and above. Younger
women and men tend to use other types of painkillers,
while hypnotics and sedatives are most frequently taken
by men and women aged 74 and above. Young men are
most likely not to take any medication at all. The majority
of people in Vienna rely on their doctors for advice on
how to administer medication, yet most of them refer to
the enclosed instructions for information on side effects.
Only half of women aged 74 and above ask their doctors
for advice on side effects, 16 percent to 18 percent never
ask about side effects.
In the past three months of reporting, the majority of
people interviewed turned to their general practitioners
at the first sign of malaise, the more often the older they
were. Home visits and in-patient treatment were made
use of mainly by people aged 74 and above. Men above
the age of 59 and women above the age of 45 tend to consult
specialists more often than others. Dentists are most
often visited by younger people (18 percent), 60 percent
of young men and 50 percent of young women did not
consult a doctor at all in the period of reporting.
Other health services were hardly made use of in the
past three months; 95 percent to 97 percent of young
men and women sought no advice at all. The majority of
those who did visited physiotherapists, followed by psychotherapists.
These services are more popular with
women than with men, as is alternative medical treatment.
Dentists were visited fairly often during the past five
years. More than 50 percent of the people interviewed reported
to have visited a dentist five times or more during
that time, the exception being people with compulsory
education only. The latter form the largest group (15
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