Smoking cessation advice and quit attempts in South Africa between 2007 and 2017: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

daily smoking has decreased from 42% to 37% among men, and 11% to 8% among women 6,7. However, smoking rates remain unacceptably high among the Colored (mixed ancestry) population, where it is reported to be 49.3% among men and 38.1% among women, in 2017. In addition, an estimated 51.2% and 10.4% of tobacco and non-tobacco users, respectively, are still regularly exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) at home or outside of home. In 2010, the Conference of Parties (CoP) to the WHO Framework convention on tobacco control ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine trends in receiving quit advice from healthcare professionals among current smokers in South Africa, pre-and post-adoption of Article 14 guidelines of the WHO FCTC in 2010, and to determine the association between quit advice, e-cigarette use and quit attempt. METHODS This study was a secondary data analysis involving 2206 ever-smokers aged ≥16 years who participated in the South African Social Attitude Surveys conducted in 2007, 2010 and 2017. Data included participants' sociodemographics, tobacco, and/or e-cigarette use (for years 2010 and 2017 only), exposure to others' smoking at home and/or work or public places, quit advice, and quit attempts. Analyses included chi-squared test and logistic regression. RESULTS The mean cigarettes smoked per day, the proportions of smokers offered quit advice, planning to quit and who made a quit attempt did not change significantly between 2007 and 2017 (p=0.67, p=0.70, p=0.09 and p=0.40, respectively). However, there was a marginally significant increase in e-cigarette uptake between 2010 and 2017 (p=0.05). In a bivariate analysis, quit advice was significantly associated with making a quit attempt across all survey years. In the final multivariable-adjusted regression model, having received a quit advice (OR=1.967; 95% CI: 1.255-3.083) compared to not, and being Colored/mixed race (OR=0.467; 95% CI: 0.298-0.732) compared to self-identifying as Black African, remained independently associated with making a quit attempt. CONCLUSIONS Except for marginally increased e-cigarette use, there was no significant change in smoking or quitting behavior in South Africa post-adoption of Article 14 guidelines. The study findings highlight the importance of quit advice in promoting quitting behavior and suggest the need to scale it up in South Africa.

Trends in the use and dual use of factory-made combustible cigarettes, other tobacco products and electronic cigarettes: Results from South African Social Attitudes Surveys during 2007 to 2018

“…Previous studies have reported a significant reduction in the prevalence of tobacco use in South Africa (SA) 15,16 , following the introduction of the Tobacco Products Control Act 83 of 1993 (amended 2008) 17 . However, this reduction in prevalence has stabilized with no change in quitting behavior over the same period 18 , and recent increases in tobacco use have been reported between 2008 and 2011 among South Africans 13,19 . The re-bound and increase in tobacco use prevalence have been attributed to the marketing and social acceptance of novel and re-emerging tobacco/ nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and waterpipe tobacco which come in exotic flavors, and promoted for use in social settings 6 .…”

Healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices on smoking cessation intervention in the Northern Cape

“…Additionally, they can provide continued support to prevent relapse (Devonish et al 2022 ). Primary care physicians, dentists, nurses and other health professionals have been involved in smoking cessation interventions in the United States, Europe, Australia, South Africa and other countries (Ayo-Yusuf & Omole 2021 ; Gajendra, McIntosh & Ghosh 2023 ; Mersha et al 2022 ). Several evidence-based guidelines are available to assist health professionals with tobacco cessation interventions (Verbiest et al 2017 ).…”

“…Current literature suggests that despite evidence-based guidelines and recommendations being available nationally and internationally, there is still a gap between evidence and practice when assessing tobacco use and supporting patients to quit (Ayo-Yusuf & Omole 2021 ; Jradi 2017 ; Tadzimirwa et al 2019 ). In the GATS-SA survey in 2021, 65.7% of current South African smokers expressed an interest in quitting, but only 42.9% of smokers who visited their physician in the past 12 months received cessation advice (SAMRC 2022 ).…”

Effect of socioeconomic status on smoking cessation behavior in selected African countries: Secondary analysis of Global Adult Tobacco Survey data (2014–2018)

“…A recent systematic review on tobacco cessation interventions in LMICs report a shortage of evidence on smoking cessation in context of African countries [ 21 ], unavailability of representative data on smoking cessation is regarded as one of the challenges towards effective smoking cessation strategies in Africa [ 22 ]. While few surveys reported a lack of awareness and access to smoking cessation support among vulnerable populations [ 23 , 24 ], surveys of smoking cessation usually cover urban, selected regions or certain population subgroups and are rarely nationally representative. Therefore, we conducted this study with the following objectives.…”