SPATIAL ASSOCIATION PATTERNS OF SMOKING, TOBACCO OUTLET DENSITY, AND SECONDHAND SMOKE IN THAILAND

Abstract

Thailand has a higher prevalence of smoking behaviors which puts people at risk of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine the spatial association of smoking behaviors and their associated factors among the population of Thailand. This study was conducted using a data set from the National Statistical Office of Thailand, 2017. A Moran’s I, local indicators of spatial association (LISA), and spatial regression were used to identify the spatial autocorrelation between tobacco outlet density, the prevalence of secondhand smoke, and smoking behaviors among Thai people. According to the results, among 88,689 participants, the prevalence of smoking behaviors was 18.00 per 1,000 population. There was global spatial autocorrelation between tobacco outlet density, the prevalence of secondhand smoke, and smoking behaviors with the Moran’s I values of 0.120 and 0.375, respectively. The LISA analysis identified significant positive spatial local autocorrelation of smoking behaviors in the form of nine high-high clusters of tobacco outlets density and ten high-high prevalence clusters of secondhand smoke. The prevalence of secondhand smoke predicted smoking behaviors by 62.8 percent. There were spatial associations between tobacco outlet density and secondhand smoke problems that led the youngsters to start smoking. It is a general recommendation to strictly enforce policies and laws to control smoking, and cover all regions in Thailand.