FEATURES OF THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS SMOKING IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURE OF WORK AND MARITAL STATUS IN OPEN URBAN POPULATION: GENDER DIFFERENCES

Abstract

Aim. To study the attitudes towards smoking in working-age men and women with different nature of work and marital status in Tyumen city.Material and Methods. The cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out as part of the cardiac screening in open urban male and female population. The study included 850 men (response rate 85.0%) and 704 women (response rate of 70.4%) aged 25–64 years. A self-report questionnaire of the World Health Organization titled «Knowledge and Attitude to Health» with a fixed list of answer options was used to analyze attitudes to smoking. Social status was assessed according to the nature of work (four categories: «unemployed and pensioners», «manual labour», «specialists and technical/engineering employees», and «leaders»), and marital status (have or do not have a life partner). Statistical analysis of the results was conducted using SPSS (11.5) and Statistica 7.0 software packages and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software. Values were considered statistically significant when p was <0.05.Results. The prevalence of smoking among single men was higher than the corresponding value in men who had a life partner (63.4 vs. 46.6%, р<0.001); the opposite trend was observed in women (13.1 vs. 17.0%, р>0.05). In regard to the nature of work, the highest smoking rate was found among men who were engaged in manual labour (m/f: 60.8/19.8%). Men from the categories of «specialists and technical/engineering employees» and «leaders» (40.7 and 41%) as well as women from the «unemployed and pensioners» category smoked less often (11.6%), (р<0.001). Gender differences in attitudes to smoking depended on marital status and the nature of work. Correlations between the nature of work and attempts to change something in smoking pattern were observed in men (R=0.35, p=0.05) and women (R=0.18, p=0.01).Conclusion. According to the study of open urban population, significant differences were detected between men and women in regard to their attitudes towards smoking. Gender-related differences in the associations of smoking with marital status and the nature of work were identified.