Gender disparity in hard-core-smoking: evidence from 14 GATS countries

Background This study examined the hard-core-smoking prevalence and its gender disparity in 14 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) countries. Methods First wave GATS data for India, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, Brazil, Bangladesh, Thailand, Uruguay, China, Egypt, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, were analyzed using descriptive statistics to estimate hardcore smoking and its gender disparity. In this study hard-core-smoking was defined as current daily smoker having inability in quitting (no quit attempt in the past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of < 24 hours) and with no intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting; and with high nicotine dependence (time to first smoke within 30 minutes of waking up) and having knowledge of smoking hazards. Results There were 88.44 millions (6.8%) of hard-core-smokers in 14 countries consisting of 89.2% males. Hard-core-smoking (Range:-Male:1.6-19.4%, Female:0.1-5.1%) prevalence varied across countries. Similarly, the estimates of hard-core-smoking as a proportion of daily smoking was also varied (Range:-Male 8.6-35.2%, Female 5.9-33.6%) widely. The gender difference in hardcore smoking among adults was varied from 1.1% in Mexico to 15.8% in Russia. Gender difference in Hardcore-smoking as a proportion of current daily smoker varies from (-)15.8% to 13.5%. In Bangladesh, Egypt and Mexico, hardcore smoking as a subset of daily smoker was higher among females than their male counterparts. Conclusions Males outnumber females in hard-core-smoking but hardcore-smoking as a proportion of daily smoking is higher among females than males in three out of 14 countries. There is no specific trend in gender difference across countries. Further stratified analysis is recommended