Attempt to Quit Tobacco Smoking among Male Smokers in Vietnam and Predictive Factors: Findings from Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).

backgroundVietnam is among countries with highest prevalence of tobacco smoking, attempt to quit is an important indicator to monitor the effectiveness of tobacco control efforts. This paper aims to describe smoking quit attempt and examine its association with some individual characteristics among male smokers.

methodsData from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in Vietnam in 2015 was analyzed for a sample of 1,903 male smokers taking from the national representative sample of 8,996 adults aged 15 years and above.

resultsProportion of quit attempt during 12 months prior to the interview among male smoker was 37.1%. Attempt to quit smoking was significantly associated with age (OR=2.84 and 95% CI: 1.43-5.66 for those aged 55 years and older vs. those aged 24 years and younger), with knowledge of harmful effects on health (OR=1.97 and 95% CI: 1.45-2.66 for those who could list 6 to 7 diseases vs. those who could list 3 or less diseases),  number of channels with anti smoking message (OR=1.72 and 95% CI: 1.21-2.45 for those who had exposure from 3 channels or more vs. those who did not expose any channels), number of years smoking (OR=0.59 and OR=0.40 for  those with less than 15 years smoking vs. those  with 25 to 34 years smoking and more than 35 years smoking, respectively).

conclusionIntervention to improve knowledge of tobacco harmful effects, and access to multiple and modern antismoking communication channels would be effective to raise quit attempt among smokers. Research to promote effectiveness of quit advice by health staff should be paid more attention.