Prevalence of Smoking among Iranian Adults: Findings of the National STEPs Survey 2016

Abstract

Background: Tobacco smoking is one of the most important avoidable causes of mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This study aimed to report the crude and standardized prevalence of current, ever, and secondhand smoking at national and provincial levels. Methods: This study was performed through an analysis of the results of the STEPs survey 2016, which was conducted as a cross-sectional national study. The samples were selected via multistage cluster sampling and they were representative of general population aged ≥18 years in all provinces of Iran. All the data were analyzed via survey analysis while considering population weights. Age-standardized prevalence was also calculated for the Iranian national population in 2016 and the World Health Organization (WHO) Population 2000-2025. Results: A total of 29963 subjects aged ≥18 years from all provinces of Iran, except for Qom, participated in this study. The age standardized prevalence of current tobacco smoking among adult males and females were 24.4% (95% CI: 23.6%–25.1%) and 3.8% (95% CI: 3.5%–4.1%), respectively. Among the participants, the majority of the current smokers were among those aged 45-54 years (14.5%; 95% CI: 13.6%–15.5%). With increase in age, the prevalence of secondhand smoking decreased to 34.8% (95% CI: 33.3%–36.7%) among people aged 18–24 years and to 22·6% (95% CI: 21.0%–24.3%) among subjects over 70 years. Conclusion: The result of the study can be used to inform policy makers about the status of smoking and help them to design policies for setting rules on and limiting the import of cigarettes and their components to the country.

Prevalence of tobacco smoking and its socioeconomic determinants

“…The prevalence of second‐hand smoking was approximately five times higher among women than men ( P < 0.001). The prevalence of second‐hand smoking in our study was highest among younger age groups, which was consistent with the results obtained by Varmaghani et al 28 The higher prevalence of second‐hand smoking among women at home had been shown in a previous study. 29 …”

Prevalence of high-risk behaviors in reproductive age women in Alborz province in 2019 using unmatched count technique

“…As mentioned in introduction, Alborz is a recently established province, which in previous was a part of Tehran provinces, therefore, information for this province is not available. However, based on results of STEPs survey, prevalence of smoking and hookah among women of Alborz was 13.2 and 0.3% [20]. There is a significant difference between our result and STEPs survey.…”

“…Only information on smoking and hookah is available for women of Alborz. These studies show that prevalence of smoking and hookah in Alborz province is 13.2 and 0.3%, respectively [20]. Unfortunately, no study reported prevalence of alcohol drinking, drug abuse, sexual contact, gambling in women of Alborz province.…”

Evaluation of exposure to secondhand smoke and serum level of interleukin 18 in non-smokers

“…In spite of existence of several studies showing the impact of exposure to cigarette smoke on the imbalance of some interleukins effective in the progression of diseases, there are few human studies about the effects of passive exposure (SHS). A recent nationwide study reported that approximately 31.5% of Iranians are exposed to SHS, regardless of the location [ 18 ]. Therefore, we studied the effect of exposure to secondhand smoke on the serum level of interleukin-18 in non-smoker adults.…”