A study on betel quid chewing behavior among Kaohsiung residents aged 15 years and above

A telephone survey was used to study betel quid chewing behavior of Kaohsiung residents aged 15 and above in early 1991. Among the 1,162 subjects, 154 (13.3%) reported that they chewed betel quids and most of them (145/154) were men. Among the chewers, 33 (21.4%) indicated that they chewed it daily; all were men. Age distribution of the chewing behavior suggested that more young people chewed it at the time of the survey than had been the case in the past. The demographic distributions of betel quid chewing behavior were similar to the characteristics of tobacco smoking in Taiwan. The degree of concurrence of these two behaviors was very high. Nearly 90% of the subjects believed that betel quid chewing would cause more harm than good, or it would cause only harm, to their health. Discriminant analyses indicated that smoking behavior and attitude toward the health effect of chewing betel quids were the two most significant and meaningful variables in prediction of the chewing behavior. Strategies for prevention are recommended.