Prevalence of tobacco use and its contributing factors among adolescents in Bangladesh

Background: Tobacco use is one of the major avoidable and recognized causes of noncommunicable diseases globally. Tobacco use among adolescents is considered as priority health risk behaviors that contribute to leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults and are often established at young age, extend into adulthood and are preventable. Aims: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of tobacco use and its contributing factors among adolescents in Bangladesh. Settings and Design: We used data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey Bangladesh 2007, which were a school-based survey of 2135 students aged 13-15 years in grades 7-10. Materials and Methods: A two-stage cluster sample design was used to produce representative data for Bangladesh. At the first stage, schools were selected with probability proportional to enrollment size. At the second stage, classes were randomly selected and all students in selected classes were eligible to participate. Statistical Analysis Used: We used SUDAAN for statistical analysis of correlated data, it computes standard errors of the estimates and produces 95% confidence intervals. We used t -tests to determine the differences between subpopulations. All analyses conducted in this study were gender stratified. Results: The overall prevalence of ever cigarette smokers in Bangladeshi students was about 9%, which was more than 3 times higher in boys compared to girls (15.8% vs. 4.8%). Almost four in ten students start smoking before the age of 10. In addition, another 6% students reported to use other tobacco products. About 70.7% students reported that they desired to stop smoking, and 85.0% tried to stop smoking during the past year but failed. About 42.2% students were exposed to smoke from other people in public places. Among current smokers, 97.8% reported that they were not refused cigarette purchase because of their age. Conclusions: Implementation and enforcement of tobacco control act are an urgent public health priority.