PLoS ONE
Volume 6, Issue 8, 2011

Smoking among young rural to urban migrant women in China: A cross-sectional survey (Article) (Open Access)

Wan X. , Shin S.S. , Wang Q. , Raymond H.F. , Liu H. , Ding D. , Yang G. , Novotny T.E.
  • a Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
  • b Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health, San Diego State University/University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
  • c Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
  • d San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United States
  • e Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
  • f Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health, San Diego State University/University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
  • g Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
  • h Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Background: Rural-to-urban migrant women may be vulnerable to smoking initiation as they are newly exposed to risk factors in the urban environment. We sought to identify correlates of smoking among rural-to-urban migrant women in China. Methods/Principal Findings: A cross-sectional survey of rural-to-urban migrant women working in restaurants and hotels (RHW) and those working as commercial sex workers (CSW) was conducted in ten provincial capital cities in China. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to identify correlates of smoking. We enrolled 2229 rural-to-urban migrant women (1697 RHWs aged 18-24 years and 532 CSWs aged 18-30 years). Of these, 18.4% RHWs and 58.3% CSWs reported ever tried smoking and 3.2% RHWs and 41.9% CSWs reported current smoking. Participants who first tried smoking after moving to the city were more likely to be current smokers compared to participants who first tried smoking before moving to the city (25.3% vs. 13.8% among RHWs, p = 0.02; 83.6% vs. 58.6% among CSWs, p = <0.01). Adjusting for other factors, "tried female cigarette brands" had the strongest association with current smoking (OR 5.69, 95%CI 3.44 to 9.41) among participants who had ever tried smoking. Conclusions/Significance: Exposure to female cigarette brands may increase the susceptibility to smoking among rural-to-urban migrant women. Smoke-free policies and increased taxes may be effective in preventing rural-to-urban migrant women from smoking initiation. © 2011 Wan et al.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

urban population urban area China rural area human rural population controlled study Cigarette Smoking social support Cross-Sectional Studies Young Adult cross-sectional study Humans smoking Adolescent worker female risk factor prevalence Article adult migration restaurant and hotel worker commercial sex worker Transients and Migrants
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79961149242&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0023028&partnerID=40&md5=034439a33f28e8490a6556107911f625
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023028
ISSN: 19326203
Cited by: 16
Original Language: English