Epidemiology of smoking among Malaysian adult males: prevalence and associated factors

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Prevalence of smoking among Malaysian males aged 18 and above by socio-demographic variables

Characteristics	Sample	Estimated population	Percentage of respondents who smoked (%)	95% CI
Ethnicity
Malay	8466	3114644	55.9	54.8–57.1
Chinese	3204	1278693	36.0	34.1–37.9
Indian	1193	474117	35.0	32.0–38.0
Other indigenous	1732	576818	53.8	51.2–56.3
Other	771	275161	55.0	50.6–60.3
Age group (Years)
18–20	1192	437649	49.6	46.3–52.9
21–30	3285	1222328	59.3	57.4–61.2
31–40	3140	1166894	56.8	55.0–58.6
41–50	3180	1183816	48.5	46.7–50.3
51–60	2466	925384	40.8	38.8–42.8
61 and above	2103	773935	35.0	32.9–37.1
Marital status
Single	3807	1414961	54.9	53.0–56.8
Married	11094	4129478	47.8	46.8–48.8
Divorce	199	73366	55.2	48.1–62.1
Widow/widower	191	71425	36.0	29.6–43.0
Education
None	956	333280	48.5	45.2–51.8
Primary	5103	1864393	49.5	48.0–51.0
Secondary	7531	2824816	53.8	52.5–55.1
Tertiary	1640	645212	31.4	29.0–33.8
Monthly household income
Less than RM 2000	9292	3351605	53.0	49.0–57.0
RM 2000–2999	2365	907525	47.7	45.6–49.9
> = RM 3000	3169	1251092	39.2	37.2–41.2
Occupation
Senior officer	438	173326	34.5	30.1–39.0
Professional	1185	464081	32.3	29.6–35.1
Technical	1794	686112	44.6	42.3–47.0
Clerical	629	237063	47.8	43.9–51.8
Service	2950	1119877	52.2	50.3–54.2
Skilled agriculture and fisheries	2032	690104	58.2	55.8–60.5
Craft	1050	397210	58.4	55.0–61.6
Plant and machine operator	1775	666594	56.4	53.9–58.9
Elementary occupation	1199	424680	64.8	62.0–67.5
Unemployed	1510	549940	42.0	39.7–44.8
Residential area
Urban	8843	3609890	45.2	44.0–46.4
Rural	6523	2106363	56.9	55.5–58.3

ISSN: 1471-2458