Objectives: At least 50% of smokers die prematurely. Those who smoke heavily are at an increased health risk. The purpose of the current report was to evaluate socio-demographic correlates of heavy smoking among employed men and women.
Material and methods: Data derive from the representative, household study - the Global Adult Tobacco Survey conducted in Poland over the years 2008-2010.
Results: Of 14 000 households selected for the survey, 7840 sampled individuals completed the interviews. Among 1189 daily smokers, the rate of heavy smokers was 63.5% in males and 43% in employed females (p < 0.001). The study showed that age and age at the smoking onset were significantly associated with heavy smoking among both genders. Among males and females the heavy smoking rate was the highest in the subjects that started smoking at the age between 14-17 years compared to those who started smoking at the age ≥ 21 years (odds ratio (OR) = 3.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2-5.5, p < 0.001 and OR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.4-5.3, p < 0.0001, respectively). The men with house rules that prohibited smoking with some exceptions were 2.4 times more likely to be heavy smokers in comparison with those having rules which completely prohibited it (p < 0.01). The men working in workplaces where smoking was prohibited in all indoor areas were at lower odds of heavy smoking relative to those working in areas where smoking was allowed everywhere (OR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9, p < 0.05). Among the men, there was also an association between job features and heavy smoking, which was not observed among the women.
Conclusions: These findings should be taken into account while developing tobacco control measures addressed to economically active population.
Keywords: GATS; Poland; employees; smoking; smoking intensity; tobacco.
This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.