Self reported smoking-quitting attempts and their outcomes in adult Saudi smokers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

To study the factors associated with quitting attempts and their outcome in adult Saudi smokers in Riyadh City, capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Cross-sectional survey. Primary Health Care Centers [PHCCs] in Riyadh city selected by stratified random sampling. The subjects resident in each PHCC catchment area were selected by systematic sampling from their records in the PHCCs. Participants: One thousand, five hundred and thirty-four adults aged 15 years and over were interviewed during January - April 1994. Main outcome measure: Self reported smoking habits, quitting attempts and quitting outcomes. Fifty-four point three percent of all smokers attempted to quit mainly because of health and religious considerations. Only 52.6% of those who attempted to quit [28% of ever smokers] were successful quitters at the time of the study with an average quitting period of more than one year. Quitting attempts were significantly associated with ever married and the less educated smokers. Successful quitting was significantly more in females, unmarried and those with no university education. Age, income, duration and intensity of smoking were not significantly related to quitting attempts and their outcome. The majority of smokers tried quitting on their own with only 18.7% seeking assistance from smoking cessation clinics in the city and males were more inclined to do this than females. More than 48% of smokers who contacted smoking cessation clinics were not satisfied with services offered. Of those who failed to quit, 35% had primary failure [0-6 days quitting period] and 65% stopped for varying quitting periods ranging from 1 to 52 weeks. No significant association was found between both groups concerning the demographic variables studied or the duration or intensity of smoking. Smoking contacts, stress, boredom, foreign travel and withdrawal symptoms were important factors in relapsers. More than half of all smokers attempted to quit, mostly without assistance, but only half of them were successful. The existing smoking cessation clinics require to be evaluated and services need to be improved to attract the majority of smokers who wish to quit. In addition other forms of assistance such as mass media and anonymous quitting smoking activities must be looked at and probably more legislative action taken