PREVALENCE OF SMOKING AND HAZARDOUS DRINKING AMONG INDUSTRIAL WORKERS IN THE SVERDLOVSK REGION

Introduction: Both smoking and heavy drinking have been consistently shown to be associated with social factors, such as age, gender and education, although their relative importance vary across populations. Aim: To assess the prevalence and social correlates of tobacco smoking and hazardous drinking among industrial workers in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia. Methods: Altogether, 2 432 employees (59 % men) of industrial enterprises of Sverdlovsk region took part in a cross-sectional study during annual medical checkup in 2015 using the WHO STEPS questionnaire. For this study only data on smoking, hazardous drinking, age, gender and education were used. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to study independent associations between smoking and hazardous alcohol consumption as dependent variables and education, age, gender and body mass index. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results: The prevalence of daily smoking was 45.2 % and 16.6 % among men and women, respectively. The corresponding numbers for hazardous drinking were 18.4 % and 10.2 %. The highest prevalence of both smoking and drinking were among 25-34 year-olds. Primary (OR = 3.2, 95 % CI: 2.0-5.3) and secondary (OR = 2.6, 95 % CI: 1.5-2.4) education were independently associated with higher prevalence of smoking. For associations between education and hazardous alcohol consumption the corresponding odds ratios were 2.7 (95 % CI: 1.5-4.6) and 1.8 (95 % CI: 1.3-2.5). Conclusions: Female employees in the Sverdlovsk region were more likely to smoke while men were less likely to drink heavily compared to the general population. Gender and education were significantly associated with both smoking and hazardous drinking. The youngest age-group had the highest prevalence of the studied unhealthy behaviors.

working population, tobacco smoking, hazardous drinking, education, cross-sectional study