[Smoking and secondhand smoking in Zhejiang province, China]

To describe the prevalence rates of smoking, quitting and passive smoking in different populations on their status of education, occupation and geographic distribution.

A total of 13 408 residents aged 15-69 from 45 counties through stratified multi-stage cluster sampling from Zhejiang province were selected and surveyed, using questionnaires. Data from 13 326 subjects were used for analysis. Indicators as smoking, current smoking, and secondhand smoke exposure, etc., were calculated by weight on age proportions from the 2010 census.

Among the adults aged 15 years and older, there were an estimated number of 12.90 million (29.59%) smokers, with 9.99 million (22.92%)current smokers, 8.45 million (19.38%) daily current smokers. The prevalence rates of smoking were 41.18% for men, 3.69% for women, with 45-54 year-old group the highest (51.66%) for men while the group of 65-69 year-olds was the highest (4.62%) in women. The overall rate of quitting was 22.56%. 40.19% of the smokers had thought about quitting, with the main means as self-restriction (87.59%) in conducting the behavior of smoking cessation. Among those non-smokers at age 15 or older, it was estimated that 67.90% (22.77 million) of them had been exposed to secondhand smoke. SHS exposure was the highest in the indoor workplace (62.84%), among all the venues. Knowledge on tobacco among residents seemed to be relatively poor, with only 31.52% of the population were aware that smoking could cause serious three diseases (stoke, heart disease, and lung cancer). 34.04% of the population were aware that secondhand smoking could cause all the three diseases (heart disease, lung disease, and lung cancer).

Current prevalence of smoking in males in Zhejiang province remained at a high level, indicating that the publicity programs on the knowledge of smoking tobacco was not strong enough and the task of control smoking should be taken more arduously.