Abstract
BackgroundDespite male smokers being dominant in Vietnam, scarce evidence on trends in socioeconomics inequalities among the hardcore male smokers is available in the country. In this study, we aimed at assessing the trends in socioeconomics inequalities among the hardcore smokers in adult male population in Vietnam over a five-year period from 2010 to 2015.MethodsWe used data from two rounds of the Vietnam Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted in 2010 and 2015. We included only men aged 25 years and above in the analysis. We measured socioeconomic inequalities among hardcore smokers by calculating the concentration index. We conducted multiple logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with hardcore smoking among men aged 25 years and above.ResultsThe results of this study showed that the prevalence of male hardcore smokers aged 25 years and above in Vietnam was 9.5% in 2010 which increased to 13.1% in 2015. The prevalence of male hardcore smokers declined in the richest group from the 2010 level whereas it increased in the middle, poor and poorest groups. All values of weighted concentration indices indicated that the prevalence of male hardcore smokers occurred more among the poor men in Vietnam in both 2010 and 2015. The socioeconomic inequalities in hardcore smokers increased during 2010 and 2015. Residence in urban areas was significantly associated with higher adult male hardcore smoking in our study. Belonging to the age groups between 40 and 59 years, attaining primary and lower education, being self-employed, belonging to the poorest household group, smoking being allowed at home and no rule for smoking at home were associated with higher risk of being hardcore smoker among adult males in Vietnam.ConclusionsWe found increased trends in socioeconomic inequalities in hardcore smoking among the study population. Our study results indicate that existing smoking secession and tobacco control policy and interventions need to be modified or new policies and interventions should be introduced with the perspective of addressing socioeconomic inequalities to have the desired impact. We recommend implementing specific targeted interventions for vulnerable population groups for better results.
Highlights
Despite male smokers being dominant in Vietnam, scarce evidence on trends in socioeconomics inequalities among the hardcore male smokers is available in the country
The prevalence of male hardcore smokers aged 25 years and above in Vietnam was 9.5% in 2010, and it significantly increased to 13.1% in 2015
The prevalence of men hardcore smokers residing in rural areas, who had primary or lower education, who were self-employed, who were Kinh ethnicity, who were unmarried and who had smoking allowed at home was significantly higher in 2015 in comparison with that in 2010
Summary
Despite male smokers being dominant in Vietnam, scarce evidence on trends in socioeconomics inequalities among the hardcore male smokers is available in the country. We aimed at assessing the trends in socioeconomics inequalities among the hardcore smokers in adult male population in Vietnam over a five-year period from 2010 to 2015. Tobacco use has been a major public health challenge globally as well as in the Southeast Asia region. It is a major risk factor for several non-communicable diseases. As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2015 prevalence of current tobacco smoking in adult population in Vietnam is 22.5% with 45.3% in males and 1.1% among females [2]. The data from two rounds of the GATS (2010 and 2015) in Vietnam revealed a slight decrease in prevalence of current smoking from 23.8% in 2010 to 22.5% in 2015 [2, 3]. The difficulties of smoking cessation among hardcore smokers result in low rates of decrease in prevalence of smoking
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