The Brazilian smoker: a survey in the largest cities of Brazil

objective: to understand the sociodemographic factors associated with daily consumption of cigarettes and pattern of cigarette use among brazilian smokers. method: a cross-sectional study was performed in 2005 involving the 108 largest brazilian cities. data were collected through interviews with subjects aged 12 to 65 years in randomly selected households. based on a questionnaire adapted to the brazilian context, a logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between the sociodemographic characteristics of the sample and smoking. results: of the 7,921 subjects interviewed, 16.4% reported daily use of cigarettes. the smoking prevalence was similar between genders, although women reported to start smoking at a later age and smoke fewer cigarettes per day. almost 65% of the smokers were interested in quitting or reducing their smoking habit. the main sociodemographic characteristics associated with smoking were as follows: adult age (30-59 years old), unemployment, low education level, and low socioeconomic level. alcohol abuse was also shown to be associated with smoking. conclusions: our findings suggest that adverse socioeconomic characteristics are implicated in increased susceptibility to smoking in brazil. in our sample, a high proportion of smokers reported interest to quit or reduce smoking. these data suggest that sociodemographic factors should be considered in the elaboration of smoking prevention and treatment policies.