This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (135)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Health Policy  • Alert me on articles by topic

Findings of the 1996 National Prevalence Survey

Gonghuan Yang, MD; Lixin Fan, MS; Jian Tan, MD; Guoming Qi, MD; Yifang Zhang, MD; Jonathan M. Samet, MD, MS; Carl E. Taylor, MD, DrPH; Karen Becker, DVM, MPH; Jing Xu, MS, MSPH

JAMA. 1999;282:1247-1253.

Context  As the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco products, China bears a large proportion of the global burden of smoking-related disease and may be experiencing a tobacco epidemic.

Objective  To develop an evidence-based approach supporting tobacco control initiatives in China.

Design and Setting  A population-based survey consisting of a 52-item questionnaire that included information on demographics, smoking history, smoking-related knowledge and attitudes, cessation, passive smoke exposure, and health status was administered in 145 disease surveillance points in the 30 provinces of China from March through July 1996.

Participants  A nationally representative random sample of 128,766 persons aged 15 to 69 years were asked to participate; 120,298 (93.8%) provided data and were included in the final analysis. About two thirds of those sampled were from rural areas and one third were from urban areas.

Main Outcome Measures  Current smoking patterns and attitudes; changes in smoking patterns and attitudes compared with results of a previous national survey conducted in 1984.

Results  A total of 41,187 respondents smoked at least 1 cigarette per day, accounting for 34.1% of the total number of respondents, an increase of 3.4 percentage points since 1984. Current smoking continues to be prevalent among more men (63%) than women (3.8%). Age at smoking initiation declined by about 3 years for both men and women (from 28 to 25 years). Only a minority of smokers recognized that lung cancer (36%) and heart disease (4%) can be caused by smoking. Of the nonsmokers, 53.5% were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at least 15 minutes per day on more than 1 day per week. Respondents were generally supportive of tobacco control measures.

Conclusion  The high rates of smoking in men found in this study signal an urgent need for smoking prevention and cessation efforts; tobacco control initiatives are needed to maintain or decrease the currently low smoking prevalence in women.

Author Affiliation: Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine and Chinese Association on Smoking and Health, Beijing, China (Drs Yang, Tan, Qi, and Zhang and Mr Fan); Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Md (Drs Samet, Taylor, and Becker and Ms Xu) and Global Institute for Tobacco Control, Baltimore (Dr Samet).

RELATED ARTICLES

A Future Without Tobacco: A Call for Papers
Helene M. Cole
JAMA. 1999;282(13):1284.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

October 6, 1999
JAMA. 1999;282(13):1299-1300.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Cigarette Smoking Status and Smoking Cessation Counseling of Chinese Physicians in Wuhan, Hubei Province
Han Zao Li et al.
Asia Pac J Public Health 2008;20:183-192.
ABSTRACT  

Susceptibility to smoking among South East Asian youth: a multilevel analysis
Guindon et al.
Tobacco Control 2008;17:190-197.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Community Smoking Behavior in Changqiao, Shanghai
Pinpin Zheng et al.
Asia Pac J Public Health 2008;20:94-101.
ABSTRACT  

Hierarchical linear modelling of smoking prevalence and frequency in China between 1991 and 2004
Pan and Hu
Health Policy Plan 2008;23:118-124.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychosocial correlates of cigarette smoking among college students in China
Mao et al.
Health Educ Res 2008;0:cyn002v1-cyn002.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The role of tobacco control policies in reducing smoking and deaths in a middle income nation: results from the Thailand SimSmoke simulation model
Levy et al.
Tobacco Control 2008;17:53-59.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Disease burden of adult lung cancer and ischaemic heart disease from passive tobacco smoking in China
Gan et al.
Tobacco Control 2007;16:417-422.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Family History of Cancer and Risk of Lung Cancer among Nonsmoking Chinese Women
Zhang et al.
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2007;16:2432-2435.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Perceptions of tobacco advertising and marketing that might lead to smoking initiation among Chinese high school girls
Ho et al.
Tobacco Control 2007;16:359-360.
FULL TEXT  

Passive Smoking, Metabolic Gene Polymorphisms, and Infant Birth Weight in a Prospective Cohort Study of Chinese Women
Wu et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2007;166:313-322.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Second-hand tobacco smoke in public places in urban and rural China
Stillman et al.
Tobacco Control 2007;16:229-234.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking, quitting and mortality in an elderly cohort of 56 000 Hong Kong Chinese
Lam et al.
Tobacco Control 2007;16:182-189.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Asian herbal-tobacco cigarettes: "not medicine but less harmful"?
Chen et al.
Tobacco Control 2007;16:e3-e3.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Effect of Modifiable Risk Factors on Pancreatic Cancer Mortality in Populations of the Asia-Pacific Region
Ansary-Moghaddam et al.
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2006;15:2435-2440.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cotinine Concentration in Smokers from Different Countries: Relationship with Amount Smoked and Cigarette Type
Blackford et al.
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2006;15:1799-1804.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Heritability of cigarette smoking and alcohol use in Chinese male twins: the Qingdao twin registry
Lessov-Schlaggar et al.
Int J Epidemiol 2006;35:1278-1285.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The fraction of ischaemic heart disease and stroke attributable to smoking in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asian regions
Martiniuk et al.
Tobacco Control 2006;15:181-188.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Economic burden of smoking in China, 2000
Sung et al.
Tobacco Control 2006;15:i5-i11.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Building capacity for tobacco control research and policy
Stillman et al.
Tobacco Control 2006;15:i18-i23.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Patterns of Cancer Incidence, Mortality, and Prevalence Across Five Continents: Defining Priorities to Reduce Cancer Disparities in Different Geographic Regions of the World
Kamangar et al.
JCO 2006;24:2137-2150.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Has Stroke Shifted From Hemorrhagic to Ischemic in China?
Xu et al.
Stroke 2006;37:941-942.
FULL TEXT  

Baseline Pulmonary Function and Quality of Life 9 Years Later in a Middle-Aged Chinese Population
Xie et al.
Chest 2005;128:2448-2457.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence of Physician-Diagnosed COPD and Its Association With Smoking Among Urban and Rural Residents in Regional Mainland China
Xu et al.
Chest 2005;128:2818-2823.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

One Hundred Years of Lung Cancer
Spiro and Silvestri
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2005;172:523-529.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking behaviour in Taiwan, 2001
Wen et al.
Tobacco Control 2005;14:i51-i55.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Association of Passive Smoking by Husbands with Prevalence of Stroke among Chinese Women Nonsmokers
Zhang et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2005;161:213-218.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Breaking and re-entering: British American Tobacco in China 1979-2000
Lee et al.
Tobacco Control 2004;13:ii88-ii95.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cigarette Smoking and Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in China: The International Collaborative Study of Cardiovascular Disease in Asia
Gu et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2004;94:1972-1976.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Education-Related Gender Differences in Health in Rural China
Wu et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2004;94:1713-1716.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking among adolescents in China: 1998 survey findings
Yang et al.
Int J Epidemiol 2004;33:1103-1110.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Explaining the Increase in Coronary Heart Disease Mortality in Beijing Between 1984 and 1999
Critchley et al.
Circulation 2004;110:1236-1244.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Socioeconomic predictors of smoking and smoking frequency in urban China: evidence of smoking as a social function
Pan
HEALTH PROMOT INT 2004;19:309-315.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Are there any hopes of lessening the smoking mortality/morbidity burden?
Walker et al.
The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 2004;124:160-161.
 

Promotion of smoking cessation in developing countries: a framework for urgent public health interventions
Abdullah and Husten
Thorax 2004;59:623-630.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A comparison of smoking behaviors among medical and other college students in China
Zhu et al.
HEALTH PROMOT INT 2004;19:189-196.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Acculturation and Tobacco Use Among Chinese Americans
Shelley et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2004;94:300-307.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cigarette tar yields in relation to mortality from lung cancer in the cancer prevention study II prospective cohort, 1982-8
Harris et al.
BMJ 2004;328:72.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

IMMIGRANT STATUS AND SMOKING
McCarthy et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2003;93:1616-1616.
FULL TEXT  

Getting married in China: pass the medical first
Hesketh
BMJ 2003;326:277-279.
FULL TEXT  

Asbestos related diseases from environmental exposure to crocidolite in Da-yao, China. I. Review of exposure and epidemiological data * COMMENTARY
Luo et al.
Occup. Environ. Med. 2003;60:35-42.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

DNA repair gene XRCC1 and XPD polymorphisms and risk of lung cancer in a Chinese population
Chen et al.
Carcinogenesis 2002;23:1321-1325.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking behaviours and attitudes among male restaurant workers in Boston's Chinatown: a pilot study
Averbach et al.
Tobacco Control 2002;11:ii34-37.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Relation of Cigarette Smoking to 25-Year Mortality in Middle-aged Men with Low Baseline Serum Cholesterol : The Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry
Blanco-Cedres et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2002;155:354-360.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Slower Metabolism and Reduced Intake of Nicotine From Cigarette Smoking in Chinese-Americans
Benowitz et al.
JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 2002;94:108-115.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases: Part II: Variations in Cardiovascular Disease by Specific Ethnic Groups and Geographic Regions and Prevention Strategies
Yusuf et al.
Circulation 2001;104:2855-2864.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Survey of smoking knowledge, attitudes and practice in school children in Honduras
Hamner and Stumpf
Fam Pract 2001;18:627-628.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking Among Youths in China
Hesketh et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2001;91:1653-1655.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking and diabetes in Chinese men
CHENG
Postgrad. Med. J. 2001;77:551a-551.
FULL TEXT  

Oltipraz Chemoprevention Trial in Qidong, People's Republic of China: Results of Urine Genotoxicity Assays as Related to Smoking Habits
Camoirano et al.
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2001;10:775-783.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking cessation in China: findings from the 1996 national prevalence survey
Yang et al.
Tobacco Control 2001;10:170-174.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

US has placed tobacco imports to China high on priority list for liberalisation
Dickinson
BMJ 2000;321:1413-1413.
FULL TEXT  

Research priorities for tobacco control in developing countries: a regional approach to a global consultative process
Baris et al.
Tobacco Control 2000;9:217-223.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Chemoprevention of tobacco-smoke lung carcinogenesis in mice after cessation of smoke exposure
Witschi et al.
Carcinogenesis 2000;21:977-982.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT