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Daily Smoking in Saskatoon: The Independent Effect of Income and Cultural Status

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Canadian Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Smoking prevalence in the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) went from 23.9% in 2003 to 23.3% in 2005 to 26.2% in 2007. The prevalence of smoking within the SHR Aboriginal population is substantially higher than the rest of the population. The purpose of the current study was to determine the independent effects of Aboriginal cultural status and income status on daily smoking status.

Methods

Data from three cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (2001, 2003, 2005) were merged with identical data collected by the SHR in 2007. All four cycles were random telephone survey samples.

Results

5948 participants (81.1% response rate) completed the survey. After cross-tabulation, Aboriginal cultural status and income were strongly associated with daily smoking status. Using logistic regression, the odds of daily smoking for residents of Aboriginal cultural status was reduced substantially from the initial odds of 3.43 to 2.26 after adjusting for income alone, and reduced further to 1.57 after full multivariate adjustment.

Conclusion

Given the association between smoking status and income status, future policies to reduce smoking prevalence should include generic policies to reduce income disparity as well as targeted strategies to improve the social conditions of Aboriginal people.

Résumé

Objectif

La prévalence du tabagisme dans la région sanitaire de Saskatoon (RSS) a reculé de 23,9 % en 2003 à 23,3 % en 2005, puis augmenté à 26,2 % en 2007. La prévalence du tabagisme dans la population autochtone de la RSS est considérablement plus élevée que dans le reste de la population. Notre étude visait à déterminer les effets indépendants du statut culturel autochtone et du revenu sur l’usage quotidien du tabac.

Méthode

Nous avons fusionné les données de trois cycles de l’Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes (2001, 2003, 2005) avec des données identiques recueillies par la RSS en 2007. Les quatre cycles utilisaient des échantillons aléatoires d’enquêtes téléphoniques.

Résultats

5 948 participants ont répondu aux enquêtes (taux de réponse de 81,1 %). Une tabulation en croix a mis au jour de fortes corrélations entre le statut culturel autochtone et le revenu et l’usage quotidien du tabac. L’analyse de régression logistique a toutefois considérablement réduit la probabilité pour les résidents de statut culturel autochtone d’être des fumeurs quotidiens: cette probabilité est passée de 3,43 (initialement) à 2,26 après rajustement selon le revenu, et à 1,57 après rajustement multivarié.

Conclusion

Étant donné l’association entre l’usage du tabac et le revenu, les futures politiques de réduction de la prévalence du tabagisme devraient inclure des politiques générales pour réduire l’écart dans les revenus, ainsi que des stratégies ciblées pour améliorer les conditions sociales des Autochtones.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saskatoon Health Region, 3101 - 310 Idylwyld Drive North, Saskatoon, SK, S7L 0Z2, Canada

    Mark Lemstra PhD, PhD, Cory Neudorf MD, MHSc, FRCPC & Ushasri Nannapaneni MA

  2. Erasmus University, Netherlands

    Johan Mackenbach MD, PhD & Anton Kunst PhD

Authors
  1. Mark Lemstra PhD, PhD
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  2. Johan Mackenbach MD, PhD
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  3. Cory Neudorf MD, MHSc, FRCPC
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  4. Ushasri Nannapaneni MA
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  5. Anton Kunst PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Lemstra PhD, PhD.

Additional information

At time of submission of manuscript. Current affiliation is Saskatoon Tribal Council, Saskatoon, SK

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Lemstra, M., Mackenbach, J., Neudorf, C. et al. Daily Smoking in Saskatoon: The Independent Effect of Income and Cultural Status. Can J Public Health 100, 51–54 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405493

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405493

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