Prevalence of active and passive tobacco smoking among Beijing residents in 2011

Objectives This study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of active and passive tobacco smoking among Beijing residents in 2011. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using a stratified multistage cluster random sampling method to select a representative sample of 20,242, among Beijing residents aged 18–79 years. Active and passive tobacco smoking information was collected by a standardized and validated questionnaire in a face-to-face interview. All estimates of prevalence and numbers were weighted by the 2010 Beijing Population Census data and the sampling scheme. Results Among Beijing residents aged 18–79 years, the overall prevalence of ever smokers and current smokers were 33.13% and 30.18%, respectively. The prevalence in males was much higher than that in females (60.75% vs. 3.75% for ever smokers, and 55.53% vs. 3.21% for current smokers, respectively). For overall current smokers, 14.12 cigarettes were consumed per day. However, only 8.91% of ever smokers quitted smoking at the time of the survey, and 2.44% of ever smokers quitted smoking in recent two years. Furthermore, 44.74% of overall nonsmokers and former smokers, with 47.03% of males and 43.63% of females, reported exposure to secondhand smoke for at least 15 minutes per day and at least one day per week. Conclusions Tobacco smoking prevalence is still extremely high in Beijing. Nonsmokers do still suffer from secondhand smoke critically. Further urgent efforts for tobacco control are warranted in Beijing.