| Summary: | Background
Tobacco related cancers are a substantial public
health problem, taking a leading position in morbidity and mortality. For more
than 10 years, Kazakhstan has implemented a tobacco control policy. The aim of
this study was to examine factors that influenced women´s attitudes in relation
to the smokefree policy as cancer prevention measures.
Methods
The
results of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) and interviews of 637 women
who received cancer prevention consultations in oncological dispensaries (2015-2016)
were used. GATS was conducted in Kazakhstan in 2014 that surveyed 4425 men and
women aged 15 years or older. Logistic regression models were used to obtain
odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.
Results
Most
women, regardless of the history of smoking, objected to smoking in public
transport, closed shopping centers, hospitals and other premises. Despite the
smoking ban in public places, 11.5% of non-smoking women were exposed to
secondhand smoke (SHS), mainly (70.9%) in nightclubs and bars, 17,2-22,3% - in
public transport and universities, 8,8% - in hospitals. Only a third of women
who are exposed to SHS have objected to the ban violation. A low (47% and
lower) awareness of women about the causal relationship of smoking and cancer of
other localizations, except lung cancer was noted. During visiting to doctor,
only 41.1% of respondents were asked about smoking history and 27.9% received advise to quit smoking.
Conclusions
In
general, there is a very high support for the national smokefree law that covers
public places and transport (84.8%). Most current smokers among women (67.4%)
are ready to quit when they will receive relevant information and help from
medical professionals. For this it is necessary develop and implement the women
and health professionals addressed cessation programs. It is important to
motivate health professionals to stop smoking and to increase population
awareness on cancer prevention.
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