IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5665-d562136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socioeconomic Determinants of Smoking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Author

Listed:
  • Ameerah M.N. Qattan

    (Department of Health Services and Hospital Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80200, Saudi Arabia
    Health Economics Research Group, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80200, Saudi Arabia)

  • Micheal Kofi Boachie

    (Department of Health Policy Planning and Management, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Private Mail Bag 31, Ho, Ghana
    SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa)

  • Mustapha Immurana

    (Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Private Mail Bag 31, Ho, Ghana)

  • Mohammed Khaled Al-Hanawi

    (Department of Health Services and Hospital Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80200, Saudi Arabia
    Health Economics Research Group, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80200, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Tobacco consumption, or smoking, is a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide, including in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In order to reduce the consumption of tobacco products, it is necessary to understand the factors that drive it. However, little is known about the socioeconomic determinants of tobacco smoking in the KSA. This study, therefore, investigates the socioeconomic factors that influence tobacco smoking in the KSA. Using a national health survey, the study employs logistic and negative binomial regressions to examine the socioeconomic factors associated with smoking. Moreover, the inequality concentration indices (CIs) are used to assess inequalities in smoking. The results reveal that the smoking prevalence is 14.09% of the 8813 respondents considered in this study. The prevalence of smoking is higher among men (25.34%) than among women (1.91%). On the determinants of smoking, the logistic regression results show that higher income is associated with lower likelihood of smoking. Other factors significantly associated with current smoking status are marital status, gender, age, and region of residence. Similarly, gender, age and region of residence are significantly associated with smoking intensity. As regards the inequality analysis, at the national level, the results show that smoking is concentrated among those with higher socioeconomic status (income: CI = 0.071, p < 0.01; education: CI = 0.095, p < 0.01), but with significant regional variations. By gender disaggregation, the results also show that the income-based CIs are positive for both males and females, but statistically insignificant. Education-based CI is positive for males and significant (CI = 0.057, p < 0.05), while it is negative and insignificant for females during the study period. The findings call for targeted tobacco control measures focusing on those with higher socioeconomic status, as well as factors such as age, gender, marital status and region of residence.

Suggested Citation

  • Ameerah M.N. Qattan & Micheal Kofi Boachie & Mustapha Immurana & Mohammed Khaled Al-Hanawi, 2021. "Socioeconomic Determinants of Smoking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5665-:d:562136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5665/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5665/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagstaff, Adam & Paci, Pierella & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1991. "On the measurement of inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 545-557, January.
    2. Mohammed Khaled Al-Hanawi & Rubayyat Hashmi & Sarh Almubark & Ameerah M. N. Qattan & Mohammad Habibullah Pulok, 2020. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Uptake of Breast Cancer Screening among Saudi Women: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of a National Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    3. Pampel, Fred, 2008. "Tobacco use in sub-Sahara Africa: Estimates from the demographic health surveys," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1772-1783, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guido Erreygers & Roselinde Kessels, 2017. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: A New Approach to the Measurement of Bivariate Inequality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Sundberg, Gun, 1996. "Measuring Income-Related Health Inequalities in Sweden," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 120, Stockholm School of Economics.
    3. Peng Nie & Andrew E. Clarck & Conchita D'Ambrosio & Lanlin Ding, 2020. "Income-related health inequality in urban China (1991-2015): The role of homeownership and housing conditions," Working Papers 524, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Clarke, Philip & Van Ourti, Tom, 2010. "Calculating the concentration index when income is grouped," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 151-157, January.
    5. Roselinde Kessels & Guido Erreygers, 2016. "Structural equation modeling for decomposing rank-dependent indicators of socioeconomic inequality of health: an empirical study," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Costa-i-Font, Joan & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores, 2012. "Do income gradients in unhealthy behaviours explain patterns of health inequalities?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 44302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Mussa, Richard, 2010. "Poverty and Inequality in Standards of Living in Malawi: Does Religious Affiliation Matter?," MPRA Paper 24438, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. William Joe & U. S. Mishra & K. Navaneetham, 2009. "Inequalities in Childhood Malnutrition in India: Some Evidence on Group Disparities," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 417-439.
    9. Guido Erreygers & Roselinde Kessels & Linkun Chen & Philip Clarke, 2016. "Decomposing Socioeconomic Inequality of Health," EcoMod2016 9574, EcoMod.
    10. Hannelore Grande & Patrick Deboosere & Hadewijch Vandenheede, 2013. "Evolution of educational inequalities in mortality among young adults in an urban setting," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(6), pages 825-835, December.
    11. Baochun Peng & Haidong Yuan, 2021. "Dynamic Fairness: Mobility, Inequality, and the Distribution of Prospects," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(4), pages 1314-1338, October.
    12. Kenya Valeria M. S. Noronha & M™nica Viegas Andrade, 2002. "Desigualdades sociais em saúde: evidências empíricas sobre o caso brasileiro," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td171, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    13. Tom Van Ourti & Philip Clarke, 2008. "The Bias of the Gini Coefficient due to Grouping," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-095/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Richard Mussa, 2013. "Spatial Comparisons of Poverty and Inequality in Living Standards in Malawi," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(2), pages 192-210, June.
    15. Anna D’Ambrosio & Roberto Leombruni & Tiziano Razzolini, 2022. "Trading off wage for workplace safety? Gaps between immigrants and natives in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(3), pages 903-960, October.
    16. Etile, Fabrice, 2014. "Education policies and health inequalities: Evidence from changes in the distribution of Body Mass Index in France, 1981–2003," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 46-65.
    17. Quinn C, 2009. "Measuring income-related inequalities in health using a parametric dependence function," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/24, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    18. Edwards, Ryan, 2008. "Widening health inequalities among U.S. military retirees since 1974," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1657-1668, December.
    19. Erreygers, Guido, 2009. "Correcting the Concentration Index," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 504-515, March.
    20. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2009. "Measuring intra‐household health inequality: explorations using the body mass index," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages 13-36, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5665-:d:562136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.