Medicina Ocupacional y Asuntos de Salud

Abstracto

Pattern of Smoking Habit and Quit Attempts among Industrial Workers in Kuwait

Mohamad A Gaafar and Lamia A Basiony

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of smoking habit among industrial workers in Kuwait, and to identify the demographic, behavioral and environmental factors predicting smoking quitting. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the last 3 months of the year 2010. All responded employees (n=2620) of randomly selected three factories in Sabhan Industrial Area, Kuwait participated in the study, using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire modified from the standard World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire. All participants were males. Demographic, behavioral and environmental data regarding smoking and quitting were collected. Results: The overall prevalence of smoking among participants was (34.8%). The highest and significant prevalence was observed in age group (30-39 years), divorced and widowed workers, undergraduate workers, blue-collar workers, workers more than 10 years work duration and workers in production sectors (P<0.05). The majority were cigarette smokers (95.8%). The mean age of starting smoking was about 16 years in Kuwaiti (16.3 ± 5.2) and 19 years in expatriates (18.9 ± 5.8), (p<0.001), whereas, the average duration of smoking was about 15 years in Kuwaiti (14.8 ± 4.8) and 18 years in expatriates (18.4 ± 5.2), (p<0.05). Smoking quit rate is (22%), quitting increased twice among the age group (40-49 years). People with less duration of smoking (<10 years) were more likely to quit smoking by 1.88 times than those (≥ 20 years). Also, people started smoking at age of twenty years and above were more likely to quit smoking by 4.13 times than those started smoking at age (≤ 14 years). Physical active were 2.44 times more likely to quit smoking than physically inactive. The presence of smoking policy at work and absence of smoking partner at home increase the likelihood to quit smoking (OR=3.58 and 2.11 respectively). The most common reasons for quitting were the harmful effects of smoking on health (61.2%) followed by scientific evidence of the hazards of smoking (51.7%) and being prohibited by religion (46.8%). Conclusion: Effective measures must be taken to prevent initiation of smoking, promoting smoking cessation program and support policy of smoking cessation at workplace.