The association between cigarette smoking and work status among Egyptian adolescent males

SETTING: Cigarette consumption has rapidly increased in Egypt and large numbers of young people are now smoking, but little is known about factors influencing smoking behavior in Egyptian adolescents. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether working is associated with cigarette smoking among Egyptian adolescent males. DESIGN: Data were from the nationally representative Adolescence and Social Change in Egypt survey. A total of 4354 boys and 4773 girls aged 10-19 years and one adult in each household were interviewed between March and August 1997. Given the low prevalence of smoking among girls, they were excluded from this analysis. RESULTS: Workers tended to be older, have more smoking peers, be of lower socio-economic status and live in rural regions; these confounders were included in multi-variate models. Comparing former and never workers, the OR of ever smoking was 1.57 (95%CI 1.17-2.12), and that of current smoking was 1.46 (95%CI 0.99-2.25); comparing unpaid workers and never workers, the OR for ever smoking was 0.86 (95%CI 0.63-1.19), and for current smoking it was 1.08 (95%CI 0.69-1.67); and comparing paid workers with never workers, the OR for ever smoking was 1.36 (95%CI 1.00-1.85) while for current smoking it was 1.68 (95%CI 1.07-2.65). CONCLUSION: Egyptian boys who do paid work have a higher likelihood of smoking. Policy makers can target youths at high risk for smoking in industries that hire adolescents.