Abstract
Smokers lose, on average, about ten years of life, while smokers who quit before age of 35 years have mortality rates similar to those who never smoked. There is lack of support for smokers in their quitting attempt as well as empirical data to design support strategies. This cross sectional study was conducted in 2012 in rural Tangail, to identify the smoking quitting attempts and its correlates in Bangladeshi population. A total of 505 adult rural smokers were enlisted, and interviewed using a pretested questionnaire in Bangla. Pearsons chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were done to find out the association before and after controlling for the effects of other variables. The recruited samples were between the ages of 18 and 80 years with a mean (SD) of 42.62 (13.10) years. About three-fourth of the participants (72.5%) did not have any plan to quit smoking. Only 8.4% tried to quit smoking within last 12 months and 13.6% ever in their smoking life, and 5.2% stopped smoking at least for a month. Intention to quit smoking associated with education (p=0.025), age at starting smoking (p <0.001), type of smokers (p <0.001) and number of smoker friends (p <0.001). Type of smokers (p=0.001) and number of smoker friends (p=0.002) showed influence on quitting attempt. Quit attempt was least common at homes (p <0.001) and workplaces (p <0.001) were there was no smoking restrictions. Only 5% tea stalls and 6% restaurants had partial smoking restrictions. About 60% respondents family and 70% colleagues never tried to influence smokers to smoking. Those who were more frequently told more commonly tried to quit smoking (p<0.001). The study revealed that smoking quitting intention and attempt both are at very low level in rural Bangladeshi males, and social attributes significantly correlated to intention and attempting smoking quit. Family and social support in quitting and restrictions at home and workplace might have role in motivating the smokers to quit smoking. To encourage smoking cessation, counseling service needs to be established and quitting aids should be made available at an affordable cost.
Highlights
The impact of tobacco on health has been extensively documented
Out of all smokers only 7.2% could ever stop smoking for one day
Quit attempt was least common where there were no smoking restrictions at home (p
Summary
The impact of tobacco on health has been extensively documented. Health consequences are of two-fold; first, the addictive nature of nicotine and second, disabling and fatal diseases caused by tobacco.[1] Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world and responsible for the deaths of one in ten adults worldwide. It is predicted to become the leading cause of death by 2020s, causing more than one in every eight deaths. If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half of the people that smoke today will eventually be killed by tobacco. Tobacco is the fourth most common risk factor for disease worldwide.[2] Tobacco consumption is the single most important preventable risk to health. On average, about ten years of life. In a long-term prospective study of 35000 people, 81% of the non-smokers, but only 58% of the smokers, reached age 70; 59% of the non-smokers, but only 26% of the smokers, reached age 80.3
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