Prevalence of tobacco smoking and its socioeconomic determinants Tobacco smoking and its determinants

Introduction The epidemic tobacco use is a public health concern worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of tobacco use and its socioeconomic determinants in the city of Shiraz, Iran. Methods In total, 5873 adults aged 20 and older were included in this study from the city of Shiraz, Iran, from June to October 2015. The sampling was conducted using the stratified random sampling method. Active cigarette, hookah, and second-hand smokers were labeled as tobacco users in this study. Past smokers and non-smokers were labeled as non-tobacco users. The participants' socioeconomic status (SES) was determined based on their self-reported level of education, occupation, income, and residence. Results In this study, 35.4% of the participants were tobacco users. The prevalence of active cigarette, active hookah, dual-users, and secondhand smokers was 13.3%, 8.3%, 0.4%, and 13.4%, respectively. The prevalence of tobacco use was highest among individuals with primary education level (40.9%), manual jobs (46.4%), lowest income level (38.1%), and those living in the suburban areas (36.4%). In multivariate analysis, the most socioeconomic factors related to tobacco usage were lack of academic education, manual job, and low-income level. Conclusions Tobacco control efforts should be more focused on vulnerable groups of cigarette and hookah users in the southwest of Iran. Moreover, SES and reduction of health-related disparities and inequality should be considered a crucial concern in this regard.