[Chaos concerning smoking prevalence figures in Austria].

Cigarette smoking has been identified to be a major risk factor to health and more and more measures have been implemented to curb cigarette consumption in society. The central question is: "Have those measures been successful in reducing smoking prevalence to a relevant degree?" In spite of many large surveys done by renowned institutes, we still cannot present a well-founded consistent answer because of contradictions. We should aim at fundamentally improving our research methodologies to assess health-damaging behaviours in society.