Characteristics of Smokers and Non-Smokers among Tuberculosis Patients in a Socio-Economically Underprivileged Area in Metro Manila, Philippines

Abstract

Background: Smoking is one of the serious non-communicable health issues. Currently, 80% of the smokers are living in low- and middle income countries. Around 6 million people died due to smoking every year; and more than 600,000 non-smokers died as second- hand smokers. Otherwise, communicable disease such as tuberculosis (TB) still posed a serious threat for the people, especially in the developing countries. Previous studies indicated that smoking cessation by health providers is effective; also recommended the smoking cessation program into TB program. TB treatment takes at least 6 months; and this is a good opportunity to take smoking cessation by health professionals. However, there are not enough data which based on people who live in the socio-economically underprivileged areas. This study was to identify the characteristics between smokers and non-smokers among TB patients in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 263 TB patients from January 2015 to January 2016. A structured questionnaire was used for the data collection. It composed of 6 sections which are patient profile, socio-demographics, TB symptoms, smoking motivation, smoking situation for smokers, and basic smoking knowledge test. Smokelyzer which is biochemical measurement was used in order to clarify the smoking situation of each patient. Data was analyzed by Chi-square test; and smoking knowledge test was evaluated by t-test.

Results: Total respondents were 263 (smoker n=60, non-smoker n=203). Smoking rate in males was 19.0% and 3.8% in females. The smoking rate of the family members (61.7% of smoker and 48.3% of non-smoker) and friend (83.3% of smoker and 61.1% of non-smoker) of smokers were higher than those who are socially close to non-smokers. There were significant differences on their smoking motivation about whether close friend smoker or not (χ²=10.2404, p=0.03720, p<0.05). Moreover, the data obtained indicated that low-educational background, low-income in the respondents.

Conclusion: The data showed that the smoking behavior tend to influenced by their family’s and friend’s smoking habits. The comprehensive approaches will be required to quit smoking and also anti tuberculosis activities.