Journal of Public Health and Diseases

Smoking is a public health problem that is a significant risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cancers. Smoking accounts for one in every five deaths among men and one in every 20 deaths among women globally. World health organization (WHO) has estimated that about 1.3 billion people smoke worldwide, and the vast majority of these people live in developing countries. This study seeks to determine the correlates of tobacco smoking among residents of Katsina local government. A cross-sectional study that enrolled 384 respondents was adopted in this study. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select the respondents for the survey. Data collected were analyzed with SPSS v22 software. The results showed that the questionnaire response rate was 98.9% (n=380). The mean age of the respondents was 25.7 ± 11.8 years, all-time prevalence of smoking is 28.9% (n=110), and prevalence among those actively smoking is 21.5% (n=82). The mean number of cigarettes smoked by individual respondents daily was 8.9 ± 5.6, with a mean smoking duration of 4.6 ± 4.2 years. The mean number of people that smoke in households was 2.0 ± 1.5. Males are almost three times (aOR=2.8, 95% CI=1.94-4.02) more likely to smoke. Parental smoking (aOR=3.3, 95% CI= 2.61-4.30), peer influence (aOR=6.9, 95% CI=4.45-10.7), and media advertisements (aOR=4.5, 95% CI=3.52-5.99) are strong predictors of smoking in the community. In conclusion, the prevalence of smoking in the community was high, and the likelihood of smoking behaviour of the individual is influenced by peer group, parental smoking and exposure to pro-smoking advertisements. Health education and strong tobacco control policies are needed to address the problem of smoking.