| Summary: | Background
This study examined the hard-core-smoking prevalence and its gender disparity in 14 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) countries.
Methods
First wave GATS data for India,
Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, Brazil, Bangladesh, Thailand, Uruguay, China,
Egypt, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, were analyzed using descriptive statistics to estimate hardcore
smoking and its gender disparity. In this study hard-core-smoking was defined
as current daily smoker having inability in quitting (no quit attempt in the
past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of < 24 hours) and with no
intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting; and with
high nicotine dependence (time to first smoke within 30 minutes of waking up)
and having knowledge of smoking hazards.
Results
There were 88.44 millions (6.8%) of hard-core-smokers in 14 countries consisting of 89.2% males. Hard-core-smoking (Range:-Male:1.6-19.4%,
Female:0.1-5.1%) prevalence varied across countries. Similarly, the estimates of
hard-core-smoking as a proportion of daily smoking was also varied (Range:-Male 8.6-35.2%,
Female 5.9-33.6%) widely. The gender difference
in hardcore smoking among adults was varied from 1.1% in Mexico to 15.8% in Russia.
Gender difference in Hardcore-smoking as a proportion of current daily smoker
varies from (-)15.8% to 13.5%. In Bangladesh, Egypt and Mexico, hardcore
smoking as a subset of daily smoker was higher among females than their male
counterparts.
Conclusions
Males outnumber females in hard-core-smoking but hardcore-smoking as a proportion of daily smoking is higher among females than males in three out of 14 countries. There is no specific trend in gender difference across countries. Further stratified analysis is recommended.
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