RESEARCH PAPER

Smoking behaviour in Taiwan, 2001

C P Wen¹, D T Levy², T Yuan Cheng¹, C-C Hsu¹, S P Tsai³

¹ Division of Health Policy Research, National Health Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan
² University of Baltimore, Baltimore, and Pacific Institute, Calverton, Maryland, USA
³ The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Chi Pang Wen
National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County, Taiwan 350; Cwengood{at}nhri.org.tw

Purpose: To examine smoking behaviours in Taiwan and compare those behaviours to those in the USA.

Methods: Using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of Taiwan (2001), a survey of over 20 000 participants, frequencies were calculated for smoking, ex-smoking, quantity smoked, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Breakdowns by age, sex, and socioeconomic status were also calculated.

Results: The ratio of male to female smoking rates was 10.9 to 1 among adults (46.8%/4.3%), but 3.6 to 1 among underage teenagers (14.3%/4.0%). The proportion of underage to adult smokers was three times higher for girls than for boys. Smoking prevalence substantially increased during and after high school years, and peaked in those aged 30–39 years. Smoking rates of high school age adolescents increased more than threefold if they did not attend school or if they finished their education after high school. Low income and less educated smokers smoked at nearly twice the rate of high income and better educated smokers. The smoker/ex-smoker ratio was close to 7. Male daily smokers smoked on average 17 cigarettes/day, and females, 11. Half of the total population, especially infants and women of childbearing age, were exposed to ETS at home.

Conclusions: Taiwan has particularly high male smoking prevalence and much lower female prevalence. The low female prevalence is likely to increase if the current sex ratio of smoking by underage youth continues. The low quit rate among males, the high ETS exposure of females and young children at home, and the sharp increase in smoking rates when students leave school, are of particular concern. These observations on smoking behaviour can provide valuable insights to assist policymakers and health educators in formulating strategies and allocating resources in tobacco control.

Keywords: smoking behaviour; prevalence; initiation; environmental tobacco smoke

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lin, H.-H., Ezzati, M., Chang, H.-Y., Murray, M. (2009). Association between Tobacco Smoking and Active Tuberculosis in Taiwan: Prospective Cohort Study. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 180: 475-480 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wen, C. P., Tsai, S. P., Chung, W.-S. I. (2008). A 10-Year Experience with Universal Health Insurance in Taiwan: Measuring Changes in Health and Health Disparity. ANN INTERN MED 148: 258-267 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wen, C P (2005). Facilitating the critical process in tobacco control. Tobacco Control 14: i1-i3 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wen, C P, Tsai, S P, Cheng, T Y, Hsu, C C, Chen, T, Lin, H S (2005). Role of parents and peers in influencing the smoking status of high school students in Taiwan. Tobacco Control 14: i10-i15 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Levy, D T, Wen, C P, Chen, T Y, Oblak, M (2005). Increasing taxes to reduce smoking prevalence and smoking attributable mortality in Taiwan: results from a tobacco policy simulation model. Tobacco Control 14: i45-i50 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wen, C P, Cheng, T Y, Lin, C-L, Wu, H-N, Levy, D T, Chen, L-K, Hsu, C-C, Eriksen, M P, Yang, H-J, Tsai, S P (2005). The health benefits of smoking cessation for adult smokers and for pregnant women in Taiwan. Tobacco Control 14: i56-i61 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wen, C P, Tsai, S P, Chen, C-J, Cheng, T Y, Tsai, M-C, Levy, D T (2005). Smoking attributable mortality for Taiwan and its projection to 2020 under different smoking scenarios. Tobacco Control 14: i76-i80 [Abstract] [Full Text]