The prevalence of and factors associated with tobacco smoking behavior among long-distance drivers in Lagos, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Factors associated with tobacco smoking are useful in designing tobacco control programs. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of and factors associated with tobacco smoking among long-distance drivers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study. Stratified cluster sampling approach was used to select drivers based on if they received annual health screening (AHS) or not (non-AHS). We used a structured questionnaire to obtain information and weighted the resulting observations to derive population based estimates. Association between tobacco smoking and socio-demographic factors was explored in multivariate models. RESULTS: A total of 414 male drivers, with a mean age of 43.6 (standard error 0.6) years were studied. Population weighted prevalence of current smoking was 18.9% (95% CI 14.3-23.4) all drivers, 6.5% (95% CI 2.6-10.4) of AHS drivers and 19.5 (95% CI 14.7-24.2) of non-AHS drivers (p<0.001). In multivariate models, having close friends that smoked (OR= 6.36, 95% CI= 2.49 - 16.20) cargo driving (OR= 2.58, 95% CI= 1.29 - 5.15) and lower education levels (OR for post-secondary education vs. Primary education or less= 0.17, 95% CI= 0.04 - 0.81) were associated with current smoking. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of tobacco smoking is higher among non-AHS compared to AHS drivers. Having close friends that smoked, cargo driving, and lower education levels were associated with current smoking.