Passive smoking and knowledge of its health hazards in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Exposure to secondhand smoke is a major public health issue that requires assessing its magnitude. This study assesses the current status of passive smoking and its determinates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.This national study conducted in the 13 regions of Saudi Arabia through web-based-computer assisted telephone interviews. The two main measurements were passive smoking among nonsmokers and smoking behaviors in microenvironments among smokers. Data on socio-economic and demographical data, smoking status, attitude, and knowledge on passive smoking impacts were also collected. Data was weighted by age, gender, and region to account for the different probabilities of selection.Exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers was 44%. Smoking at home with the presence of children in the same room was prevalent (25% cigarettes smokers, 30% waterpipe smokers). About 18% of smokers smoke inside their cars while children on-board. Only 34.4% of smokers perceived, “to a very large extent”, the harms of their smoking might be doing to others. As the knowledge on secondhand smoking exposure health risks increases the smokers were less likely to smoke in microenvironment (R= -0.16, p value< 0.01). Almost half of the population (49.1wt.%) were “extremely concerned” about the effect of passive smoking on their health in the future.Passive smoking is prevalent in the Saudi population and a proportion of smokers smokes in microenvironments with the presence of children. Further preventive and promotion strategies are needed to protect the public from the hazards of passive smoking with special attention to vulnerable populations.Identify the association between knowledge of the associated health risks with exposure to passive smoking and smoker behaviors that expose nonsmokers to tobacco smoke in private micro-environments.Assess the impact of individual knowledge of passive smoking associated health risks and vulnerability to passive tobacco smoke exposure.