Smoking Among Turkish Adults: Rising Trend in Women

A cohort representing the adult population of Turkey was surveyed for the third time in 1998. A total of 2569 adults aged 27 years or over (comprising 1832 subjects of the original cohort and 737 persons newly enrolled) were examined. This report deseribes the prevalence of cigarette smoking, and analyzes relevant changes incurred over the past 8 years. Adjustment for aging by 8 years was carried out for each gender by taking into account the weighted differences of mean values in various age groups in the initial survey. During the period between 1990 and 1998, the proportion of smokers among adults at constant age rose by one-seventh (from 18.9% to 21.6%) in women, while in men a 3%-decline to 57.8% was noted. In addition, a rise by 20% was estimated in the ınean amount consumed by women whereas this figure decreased by 4% among men. The combined effect led to a 38% increase of cigarettes smoked by women over the past 8 years, a huge rise. It was estimated that among Turks aged 20 years or over 10.4 million men and 3.9 million women are current regular smokers. Key words: