Factors associated with smoking quit attempts among tobacco smokers

Abstract

Despite more than one-third of tobacco users attempting to quit tobacco each year, only 4–6 % of them succeed to remains abstinent after one year. The aim: This study aims to estimate the proportion of smokers who attempt to quit tobacco smoking and determine factors associated with quitting behaviour. Methods: This community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted among 720 smokers aged 18 years and above residing in a rural area of Haryana state of India. A chi-square test determined the association between various variables under study and quitting attempts among study subjects. Factors found to be statistically significant using a chi-square test were entered into a binary logistic regression analysis to obtain determinants of smoking quitting attempts among the respondents. Results: 28.5 % of the respondents had attempted to quit smoking during the past 1 year. The majority of them, i.e., 73.7 %, had attempted once, whereas 21.0 % and 5.4 % of respondents had made 2 and 3 attempts, respectively, to quit smoking during the last 1 year. Factors independently associated with quitting behaviour were educational level (AOR=1.851, p=0.028), age of initiation (AOR=0.620, p=0.026), reasons for smoking (AOR=1.681, p=0.016), money spent on smoking (AOR=1.700, p=0.003), family pressure to quit smoking (AOR=1.725, p=0.006) and advice from health professionals to quit smoking (AOR=2.104, p<0.001). Conclusion: Around one-third of smokers have attempted to quit tobacco smoking in the past year. Hence there is a need to formulate policies towards a targeted intervention for smokers who have not attempted to quit smoking in the past 1 year for effective tobacco control