Socio-economic health disparities in tobacco smoking among Afro-Caribbean adults: Findings from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2007–2008

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether education attainment oroccupation class was associated with the prevalence of tobacco smoking among Jamaican adults. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study was a secondary analysis of data collected from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2007–2008 (JHLS-II) and included participants who were 25–74 years old. Data on current tobacco smoking, highest educational attainment and usual occupation were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression models were used to estimate sex-specific, age-adjusted prevalence and prevalence ratios (PR). RESULTS: Analyses included 2299 participants (696 men,1603 women) with mean age of 42.9 years. Prevalence of current smoking among men and women was 25.8% and 7.8%, respectively (p < 0.001). Age-adjusted prevalence of current smoking in men was highest in the primary education group (36.5%) and lowest in the post-secondary education group (10.2%), p (trend) = 0.003. Among women, prevalence was highest among those with junior secondary education (10.2%) and lowest among those with primary education (4.7%), p (trend) = 0.014. Using post secondary education as the reference category, age adjusted PR showed statistically significant two- to three fold higher prevalence of current smoking for all the lower education groups among men. Prevalence ratios for women were lower and not statistically significant. Disparity patterns for occupation were similar, with statistically significant higher age-adjusted prevalence among men in the lower occupational categories, but not among women. CONCLUSION: There are large socio-economic disparities in tobacco smoking among men, but less so among women in Jamaica. Interventions to reduce smoking should consider these socio-economic disparities.