Smoking in a poor, rapidly expanding urban community of South Africa

Data on smoking in Alexandra (Alex) was collected during a demographic household survey, as part of a community survey on disability, using a cluster sampling methodology. Males smoked more than females, rate of smoking increased with age and seemed to increase with length of residence in Alex. The rate of smoking was higher for the informal shack dwellers (26 pc) than for either the new housing developments (13 pc) or old brick dwellings (17 pc). In a logistic regression model with age, sex, length of residence and area of residence, age was the only factor that remained statistically significant. The results are discussed and recommendations for the primary health care (PHC) level are advanced.