Prevalence of Active and Passive Smoking among Adult Population: Findings ‎of a Population-Based Survey in Kerman (KERCADR), Iran

Background: Smoking is one of the major modifiable non-communicable disease risk factors. Our aim was to report the pattern of active and passive smoking using the data collected through a population base household survey in Kerman, Iran. Methods: Given a cluster random sampling design, we recruited 5900 adult populations (15-75 years old) into a survey. After consenting, every participant was interviewed by a trained interviewer. The section for smoking had questions about daily (smoking at least one cigarette/day), non-daily, past and passive cigarette smoking as well as the time of exposure to cigarette’s smoke. We used Kerman population distribution (as the target population) to adjust our estimates using direct standardization method. Findings: Overall, 8.3% of study participants (15.5% in men vs. 0.8% in women, P = 0.010) reported themselves as daily smokers and 1.7% (2.9% in men vs. 0.4% in women, P = 0.010) as non-daily smokers. The passive smoking was common in total (27.5%), while women experienced more exposure than men (30.1% vs. 25.0%, P = 0.010). 3.2% of daily smokers smoked more than 20 cigarettes/day. Among passive smokers, 62.6% were exposed to cigarette smoke more than 6 days/week. Conclusion: Smoking is pretty common among adult populations, particularly men. A majority of tobacco-free young adult women are exposed to passive smoking. Age and gender oriented interventions are required to change this risk pattern in our community to prevent from further smoking related morbidities and mortalities.