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RESEARCH PAPER |
1 Department of Social Medicine, Academic Medical Center - University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2 Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Correspondence to:
Vera Nierkens
PhD, Department of Social Medicine, K2-206, Academic Medical Center - University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, the Netherlands; v.nierkens{at}amc.uva.nl
Objectives: Although socioeconomic patterns of smoking across the different stages of the tobacco epidemic have been well researched, less is known about these patterns among immigrant populations. This paper aims to assess the smoking prevalence and its socioeconomic gradients among three immigrant populations.
Methods: Three cross-sectional studies, using structured face-to-face interviews, were conducted in three representative (for socioeconomic status) samples of 385 Turkish, 316 Moroccan, and 1072 Surinamese first-generation immigrants aged 3560 years in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Information gathered included information about smoking behaviour, educational level and background characteristics. The associations between educational level and smoking rates were assessed using logistic regression analyses stratified by age and sex, for each ethnic group separately.
Results: The prevalence of smoking differed per group, being highest among Turkish and Surinamese men (63% and 55%, respectively), followed by Moroccan men and Turkish and Surinamese women (30%, 32% and 27%, respectively). Higher smoking rates were found among women with higher educational levels, except for Surinamese women aged 3544 years. However, among Turkish and Moroccan men aged 3544 years and Surinamese men, smoking rates were higher in lower socioeconomic groups.
Conclusions: The prevalence figures and educational associations suggest that the socioeconomic gradient changes in earlier stages of the epidemic in immigrant populations than in the Western host populations, particularly in men. This provides indications to suggest that smoking prevention measures in male immigrant groups need to be tailored to lower socioeconomic groups in particular throughout the tobacco epidemic, and to higher socioeconomic groups among women.
Keywords: immigrants; smoking; prevalence; socioeconomic status
This article has been cited by other articles:
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A. R. Hansen, O. Ekholm, and M. Kjoller Health behaviour among non-Western immigrants with Danish citizenship Scand J Public Health, March 1, 2008; 36(2): 205 - 210. [Abstract] [PDF] |
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