Abstract
Background Tobacco smoking and use of smokeless tobacco are the most preventable cause of death in Bangladesh. The prevalence of psychological distress is increasing globally. This paper reports the smoking status and their association with psychological distress and other factors in a rural district, Narail, of Bangladesh. Materials and Methods Data were collected from 2425 adults of age 18–90 years. Smoking status along with sociodemographic characteristics and measures of psychological distress using the Kessler 10-item questionnaire were collected using a face-to-face data collection method. Results The crude (age-standardized) prevalence of ever smoking was 27.1 (24.3)% that includes current 25.6 (23.7) and smoker 1.5 (0.6)%, and the prevalence of smokeless tobacco (SLT) was 23.5 (13.4)%. The prevalence of ever smoking was the highest in daily labourers (62.9%) and SLT use was the highest in widowed people (47.2%). After adjustment for covariates, no education (odds ratio (OR): 3.78, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57–9.07 for females and OR: 2.69, 95% CI: 1.87–3.87 for males) compared to at least secondary level of education and daily labours (OR: 6.66, 95% CI: 1.67–26.6 for females and OR: 5.12, 95% CI: 1.30–20.19 for males) compared to housework were associated with higher prevalence of ever smoking. Any level of psychological distress, such as mild psychological distress, was associated with at least double the prevalence of tobacco smoking in females (OR: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.67–3.83) but not in males (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.80–1.56). Psychological distress was not associated with SLT use. Conclusions Prevalence of both smoking and SLT use was high, particularly in daily labourers, people with no education, and females with psychological distress in rural Bangladesh. Appropriate intervention programs should especially target those of low levels of education and laborious occupations for increasing awareness for the cessation of smoking in rural Bangladesh.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organisation’s global report, 1.1 billion people smoke tobacco, 80% of them live in lowand middle-income countries, and 8 million people die from tobacco smoking [1]
Our study reports the association of psychological distress measured by the internationally validated Kessler 10-item (K10) psychological distress tool with smoking. e prevalence of tobacco smoking was more prevalent in males than females
smokeless tobacco (SLT) use was more prevalent in females than in males. ese observations are similar to the findings reported by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) [14] and some other studies in Bangladesh [12, 20]. is finding further contributes to a large body of evidence demonstrated in previous studies [8,9,10,11,12, 39]
Summary
According to the World Health Organisation’s global report, 1.1 billion people smoke tobacco, 80% of them live in lowand middle-income countries, and 8 million people die from tobacco smoking [1]. According to a nationwide Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), in 2009 for the age of 15 years and above [14], the overall prevalence of smoking was 23% and SLT use was Journal of Environmental and Public Health. Is paper reports the smoking status and their association with psychological distress and other factors in a rural district, Narail, of Bangladesh. E crude (age-standardized) prevalence of ever smoking was 27.1 (24.3)% that includes current 25.6 (23.7) and smoker 1.5 (0.6)%, and the prevalence of smokeless tobacco (SLT) was 23.5 (13.4)%. E prevalence of ever smoking was the highest in daily labourers (62.9%) and SLT use was the highest in widowed people (47.2%). Prevalence of both smoking and SLTuse was high, in daily labourers, people with no education, and females with psychological distress in rural Bangladesh.
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