The prevalence of smoking, second-hand smoke exposure, and knowledge of the health hazards of smoking among internal migrants in 12 provinces in China: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious studies have provided inconsistent findings on smoking among migrants, and very limited data exist on their second-hand smoke exposure. This study aims to investigate internal migrants’ smoking prevalence, second-hand smoke exposure among non-smokers, and knowledge of the health hazards of smoking in 12 major migrant provinces in China in 2013.MethodsData from the 2013 Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey in China published by the National Commission of Health and Family Planning was used in this study. Descriptive analysis, Chi-square analysis, and sex-stratified multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to explore the determinants of current smoking and second-hand smoke exposure.ResultsAmong 7200 migrants, 34.1% (55% male, 4% female) were current smokers. For males, factors associated with current smoking were education year (aOR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93–0.98), duration of stay (aOR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00–1.03) and occupation (aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.03–1.53). For females, household registration status (aOR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.04–2.80) was the most important factor associated with current smoking. Sixty five percent of non-smokers were exposed to second-hand smoke. Factors associated with exposure to second-hand smoke were duration of stay (aOR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00–1.02), divorced/widowed marital status (aOR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.25–0.91), occupation (aOR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.05–1.58) and the nature of employer (aOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60–0.97). About 95% of participants were aware that lung cancer is one of the hazards of smoking. Non-current smokers had a better knowledge of fertility reduction and accelerated aging as hazards of smoking than current smokers (p < 0.01). Knowledge of the impact of smoking on cardiovascular diseases was relatively low compared with knowledge of other smoking-related hazards (26.1–44.3%).ConclusionsCurrent smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke among internal migrants in China is high. Socio-demographic characteristics and migration status were strongly associated with current smoking and second-hand smoke exposure. We recommend specifically targeted tobacco control interventions to help to address these risk factors, such as focusing on divorced/widowed women.

Prevalence of tobacco related chronic diseases and its role in smoking cessation among smokers in a rural area of Shanghai, China: a cross sectional study

“…The prevalence of smoking in Songjiang district was lower than that in Jiangxi province (27.03% of adults were smokers) [9] and in China (66% of male and 3.1% of female were smokers in Chinese risk behavior surveillance) reported in 2012 [18]. For current smoking, in comparison with the migrant dynamics monitoring survey in China [10] in 2013 (54.40% of adult male and 3.70% of adult female were current smokers) and the GATS [19] in 2012 (the prevalence of current smoking was 52.90% for male and 2.35% for female), the prevalence was lower among Songjiang residents both for the male (48.36%) and the female (0.22%). The lower prevalence of smoking especially the current smoking might attribute to the implementation of new Shanghai Tobacco Control Regulation which was enacted in 2016 [20], and the public health education and intervention on smoking cessation in shanghai as well [11, 13].…”

Estimating and forecasting the smoking-attributable mortality fraction for both genders jointly in over 60 countries

“…However, second-hand smoking remains high among Chinese females. Zheng et al (2018) estimated that 65% of Chinese female non-smokers were exposed to second hand smoking in 2012. Nonetheless, the SAF for Chinese females aged 40-79 years was around 3% in 2006-14.…”

Housing Conditions, Neighborhood Physical Environment, and Secondhand Smoke Exposure at Home: Evidence from Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers

“…Surprisingly however, little scholarly attention has been given to such an important public health problem in this subpopulation despite the fact that there are more than 288 million migrant workers who live and work in today's urban China [16]. To move beyond a limited body of research that explored associations between SHS exposure and demographic factors among migrant workers in China [17,18], this study focuses sharply on how (1) inadequate housing conditions and (2) neighborhood environmental problems associated with SHS exposure at home among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers.…”