The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #39604

Irshad A. Shaikh, MD, MPH, PhD¹, Masood Shaikh, MD, MPH¹, and Greg Pappas, MD, PhD². (1) Health Dept., City of Chester, 5th & Welsh Streets, Municipal Building, Chester, PA 19013, (610)447-7770, ishaikh@chestercity.com, (2) Demographic and Health Surveys (Measure DHS +), MACRO International Inc., 11785 Beltsville Drive, Calverton, MD 20705

We estimate the prevalence of tobacco use in the non-smoking form (chewing and snuffing), and examines its relationship using logistic regression with age, economic status and residential status, using the data from the National Health survey of Pakistan (NHSP) 1990-94. A two-stage stratified sample design was adopted for the NHSP. The survey population comprised 5374 women aged 15 years and above. STATA 7 was used to conduct-based analysis. Individuals who reported currently using tobacco in the from of chewing/snuffing were defined as users of tobacco. The prevalence of tobacco use was 8% and 95% confidence interval (CI) 6 – 10. Tobacco use was significantly associated with age: using age group 15 – 24 years as the reference, odds ratio (OR) was 6.1 (95% CI 3.6 – 10.5) in the age group 25 – 44 years, OR 14.4 (95% CI 7.3 – 28.5) in the age group 45 – 64 years, and OR 26.0 (95% CI 13.2 – 51.2) in the age group of 65 years and above. Residential status in terms of rural/urban was also significantly associated with tobacco use: using urban residents as the reference, rural residents had an OR 2.5 (95% CI 1.3 – 4.6). Economic status bestowed protection: using women in the low economic status as the reference, women in middle economic status had OR 0.5 (95% CI 0.3 – 0.7). The relationship with high economic status was not statistically significant. Tobacco consumption predominantly afflicts older women of low economic status requiring health education efforts to reduce related morbidity and mortality.

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