[Smoking behaviour and its influencing factors among cigarette smokers in Beijing]

An investigation was carried out among 6,000 persons aged 15-70 to explore the prevalence of cigarette smoking and its risk factors in urban and suburban areas of Beijing. Results showed that 39.07% of Beijing residents were smokers (58.95% male, 17.42% female) who started smoking at an average age of 19.52% and over 2/3 of them admitted their initiafion of smoking was mainly due to curiosity and pressure from social intercourse. Results of polychotomas regression analysis demonstrated that the risk factors of smoking were related to sex, poor education, unhappy marriage, and lacking of knowledge on the negative health outcome of smoking. It is suggested that the program on smoking of control should be strengthened in Beijing.