Determinants of cigarette smoking among school adolescents in eastern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Reda, Moges Asmamaw, Yazew Berhanu, Biadgilign, Biadgilign Sibhatu

Description

The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes more than 4 million deaths a year to tobacco, and it is expected that this figure will rise to 10 million deaths a year by 2020. Moreover, it is now a growing public health problem in the developing world. Objective To assess the prevalence of cigarette use and its determinant factors among high school students in eastern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using structured self-administered questionnaires among 1,721 school adolescents in Harar town, eastern Ethiopia. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations. Results The analysis revealed that prevalence of ever cigarette smoking was 12.2% (95% CI 10.8% - 13.9%). Reasons mentioned for smoking cigarettes were for enjoyment (113, 52.8%), for trial (92, 42.9%), and for other reasons (9, 4.3%). The main predictors of cigarette smoking were sex (OR 4.32; 95% CI 2.59-7.22), age (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.05-1.38) and having friends who smoke (OR 8.14; 95% CI 5.19-12.70). Living with people who smoke cigarettes was not significantly associated with smoking among adolescents (OR 1.25; 95% CI 0.81-1.92). Conclusion This study concluded that high proportion of school adolescents in Harar town smoked cigarettes. Sex, age and peer influence were identified as important determinants of smoking. There is a need for early cost-effective interventions and education campaigns that target secondary school students.

Sujets

• Tobacco
• Cigarette
• USE
• Behavior
• School
• Adolescence
• Ethiopia

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English

Extrait

Redaet al. Harm Reduction Journal2012,9:39 http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/9/1/39

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Determinants of cigarette smoking among school adolescents in eastern Ethiopia: a crosssectional study 1* 12 3 Ayalu A Reda, Asmamaw Moges , Berhanu Yazewand Sibhatu Biadgilign

Abstract Background:The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes more than 4 million deaths a year to tobacco, and it is expected that this figure will rise to 10 million deaths a year by 2020. Moreover, it is now a growing public health problem in the developing world. Objective:To assess the prevalence of cigarette use and its determinant factors among high school students in eastern Ethiopia. Methods:A crosssectional study was conducted using structured selfadministered questionnaires among 1,721 school adolescents in Harar town, eastern Ethiopia. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations. Results:The analysis revealed that prevalence of ever cigarette smoking was 12.2% (95% CI 10.8%  13.9%). Reasons mentioned for smoking cigarettes were for enjoyment (113, 52.8%), for trial (92, 42.9%), and for other reasons (9, 4.3%). The main predictors of cigarette smoking were sex (OR 4.32; 95% CI 2.597.22), age (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.051.38) and having friends who smoke (OR 8.14; 95% CI 5.1912.70). Living with people who smoke cigarettes was not significantly associated with smoking among adolescents (OR 1.25; 95% CI 0.811.92). Conclusion:This study concluded that high proportion of school adolescents in Harar town smoked cigarettes. Sex, age and peer influence were identified as important determinants of smoking. There is a need for early costeffective interventions and education campaigns that target secondary school students. Keywords:Tobacco, Cigarettes, Use, Behavior, School, Adolescent, Ethiopia

Introduction Smoking is currently considered one of the greatest pro blems in public health worldwide, and it is one of the most preventable causes of death. Globally, the use and sale of substances such as alcohol and tobacco is causing substantial levels of health problems [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes more than 4 mil lion deaths a year to tobacco and this figure is expected to increase to 10 million deaths a year by 2020. More over, it is now a growing public health challenge in the developing world [2]. According to WHO estimates, ap proximately 47% of men and 12% of women smoke

* Correspondence: [e-mail] 1 Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O. Box 235, Harar, Ethiopia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

cigarettes worldwide in 2010 [3]. Citing the death of 5 million individuals worldwide every year due to smokingrelated diseases, the WHO states that smoking should be considered a pandemic [3]. In the United States, each year, approximately 440,000 persons die of diseases attributable to cigarette smoking leading to 5.6 million years of potential life lost, $82 billion in lost productivity, and $75 billion in direct medical costs [4]. Cigarette smoking has been described as a“gate way” substance towards illicit drug use among adolescents [5]. The onset of tobacco use occurs primarily in early ado lescence, a developmental stage that is far removed by several decades from the death and disability that are associated with smoking in adulthood [6]. Therefore, the fact that many adult smokers initiated their smoking habit as adolescents makes adolescence smoking a

© 2012 Reda et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.