Smoking habits in the Middle East and North Africa: Results of the BREATHE study

Abstract

Few recent comparative data exist on smoking habits in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate smoking patterns in a large general population sample of individuals aged ≥ 40 years in ten countries in the region (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates), together with Pakistan, using a standardised methodology. A random sample of 457,258 telephone numbers was generated and called. This identified 65,154 eligible subjects, of whom 62,086 agreed to participate. A screening questionnaire was administered to each participant, which included six questions relating to cigarette consumption and waterpipe use. The age- and gender-adjusted proportion of respondents reporting current or past smoking of cigarettes or waterpipes was 31.2% [95% CI: 30.9-31.6%]. This proportion was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in men (48.0%) than in women (13.8%), but no relevant differences were observed between age groups. Smoking rates were in general lowest in the Maghreb countries and Pakistan and highest in the Eastern Mediterranean countries, ranging from 15.3% in Morocco to 53.9% in Lebanon. Consumption rates were 28.8% [28.4-29.2%] for cigarette smoking and 3.5% [3.4-3.6%] for waterpipe use. Use of waterpipes was most frequent in Saudi Arabia (8.5% of respondents) but remained low in the Maghreb countries (< 1.5%). Cumulative cigarette exposure was high, with a mean number of pack · years smoked of 18.5 ± 20.5 for women and 29.1 ± 26.2 for men. In conclusion, smoking is a major health issue in the MENA region.

Prevalence and factors associated with tobacco use among adults attending selected healthcare facilities in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

“…29,30 In North Africa and eastern Mediterranean countries, such as Morocco and Lebanon, the prevalence of smoking was 15.3% and 53.9%, respectively. 31 The prevalence of smoking in Nigeria as reported by various studies ranged from 3.83% to 30%, varying among different settings, [32][33][34][35] but with the majority of settings showing a prevalence above 20%. Rates lower than those reported in this study have been documented in Ghana, where rates of smoking ranged from 0.3% to 3.8% in 2009 and have witnessed no significant changes over the last three decades.…”

“…This finding corroborated the findings of other studies. 1,16,21,31 Smoking is considered to be socially acceptable among men compared with women in the majority of South African communities, thus accounting for the higher prevalence of smoking recorded among men. 48,49 The prevalence of smoking was higher among participants who were never married compared with those who were married.…”

Tobacco smoking in Egypt: a scoping literature review of its epidemiology and control measures

“…Although the annual population growth in Egypt is 2%, the number of smokers in Egypt is estimated to increase by 8% each year (10,12). The results of individual studies showed a prevalence rate of tobacco smoking in Egypt that ranged from 19.7% in the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) (15) report to 30% in Egyptian populationbased studies (16). These variations in the prevalence rates of smoking could be due to recruiting different populations, different age range of respondents, different survey years and settings, and using different diagnostic criteria or rating scales.…”

Risk assessment for COPD using chronic CAT questionnaire and Vitalograph COPD-6 screening device

“…8 Al Zaabi revealed in his study on 520 interviewed subjects (aged 40-80 years) in Abu Dhabi, that the prevalence of COPD was 3.7%. 9 He also found that this part of the world is famous for smoking water-pipes or hubbly-bubbly (narguile).…”