Quitting smoking in China: findings from the ITC China Survey

Few studies have examined interest in quitting smoking and factors associated with quitting in mainland China.

To characterise interest in quitting, quitting behaviour, the use of cessation methods and reasons for thinking about quitting among adult urban smokers in six cities in China.

Data is from Wave 1 of the ITC China Survey, a face-to-face household survey of 4732 adult smokers randomly selected from six cities in China in 2006. Households were sampled using a stratified multistage design.

The majority of smokers had no plan to quit smoking (75.6%). Over half (52.7%) of respondents had ever tried to quit smoking. Few respondents thought that they could successfully quit smoking (26.5%). Smokers were aware of stop-smoking medications (73.5%) but few had used these medications (5.6%). Only 48.2% had received advice from a physician to quit smoking. The number one reason for thinking about quitting smoking in the last 6 months was concern for personal health (55.0%). Most smokers also believed that the government should do more to control smoking (75.2%).

These findings demonstrate the need to: (1) increase awareness of the dangers of smoking; (2) provide cessation support for smokers; (3) have physicians encourage smokers to quit; (4) denormalise tobacco use so that smokers feel pressured to quit; (5) implement smoke-free laws to encourage quitting; (6) develop stronger warning labels about the specific dangers of smoking and provide resources for obtaining further cessation assistance; and (7) increase taxes and raise the price of cigarettes.