title: Smoking among adult males in an urban community of Karachi, Pakistan.
abstract: Smoking is the single most important avoidable cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the world. It is a major public health problem in Pakistan. The objectives of this study were to assess smoking status and its relationship to socio-demographic characteristics, and to determine the behavior of male smokers in an urban community in Karachi, Pakistan. A cross-sectional, household survey was conducted among 396 males, aged 15 years and above in January and February 2002. The overall prevalence of current smokers was 34%. By univariate analysis, the factors associated with smoking were younger age (15-29 years) (OR=4.2, 95% CI 2.1-7.3) as compared to older age (> 45 years), unmarried as compared to married (OR=3.1, 95% CI 1.9-5.4), educated for > 12 years compared to those with an education of 0-5 years (OR=2.0, 95% CI 1.2-3.3), and being student as compared to being an office/business worker (OR=3.2, 95% CI 1.8-5.4). The majority of smokers (55%) began smoking when younger than 25 years, smoked for more than 5 years (53%), smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day (55%) and smoked in public places (82%). Forty-two percent of the smokers used tobacco in other forms as well. Fifty-eight percent of smokers smoked to relieve anger and frustration and 30% smoked due to friend or peer pressure. In conclusion, smoking is a major problem in especially in younger age groups. There is an urgent need for health promotion and anti-tobacco education in combating the epidemic of smoking in Pakistan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. ali.khuwaja@aku.edu
authors.forename: Ali Khan
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Khuwaja
authors.forename: Muhammad Masood
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kadir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population