Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the smoking prevalence and risk factors among people aged 15 years and over, costs of smoking and the relationship between smoking and chronic diseases. A cross-sectional and analytic study was performed in a slum area. 154 residences were selected by systematic sampling and face-to-face interviews were performed. The Chi square test and t-test were used for statistical analysis. Of the 455 persons, 51% were men; 43.5% were in the 15-29 age group; 53.2% were primary school graduates; 41.1% had no social insurance or had a poverty card (yesil kart), 16.5% had a smoking related disease. 38.2% were current smokers, and 6.8% were former smokers. The mean number of cigarettes per day of current smokers was 20.5; the mean number of years of smoking was18.1. The smoking prevalence was significantly higher among men (p=0.000), the 30-59 years age group (p=0.000), poorly educated subjects (p=0.002), unemployed years subjects (p=0.007), subjects without social insurance (p=0.005), alcohol consuming subjects (p=0.000), and subjects with a chronic disease history in his/her family (p=0.007). 110 smoker families spent 15.6% of their monthly income on smoking . There was no relationship between smoking and chronic diseases. Smoking prevalence was lower than expected. Considering the household income, the percentage of smoking costs was very high. There was no positive correlation between smoking and chronic diseases.