Influence of socioeconomics and social marketing on smoking in Thailand: A National Survey in 2017

INTRODUCTION: Smoking is one of the risk factors for noncommunicable diseases and is harmful to both active and passive smokers. This study aimed to identify the influence of socioeconomic and environmental issues on smoking in Thailand. METHODS: The study is a secondary dataset analysis of cross-sectional data using data from the 2017 Smoking and Drinking Behaviors Survey of the National Statistical Office of Thailand. The survey collected the data among 88689 participants using a structured questionnaire. The multi-level analysis was used to identify the association between socioeconomics, environmental factors, social marketing, and smoking while controlling for the effects of covariates and presenting the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Among 88689 respondents, the prevalence of smoking was 18.2% (95% CI: 18.00–18.51). Factors that were associated with smoking were: exposure to secondhand smoke in residential settings (AOR=15.31; 95% CI: 14.47–16.20) and alcohol regular drinking (AOR=4.44; 95% CI: 4.14–4.76). In addition, social marketing factors include: disagreeing or being unsure of the opinions that cigarettes should be categorized as harmful goods (AOR=3.15; 95% CI: 2.94–3.37); not having been exposed to the disadvantages of smoking in social media (AOR=1.51; 95% CI: 1.43–1.61); not having been exposed to the disadvantages of smoking in newspapers, television, radio, advertisements, or other sources (AOR=1.46; 95% CI: 1.37–1.62); having never seen the warning cautions or having seen them but ignored the hazardous effect (AOR=4.81; 95% CI: 4.5–4.9); and having ever seen the warning cautions/ever seen but ignore the hazardous effect (AOR=4.81; 95% CI: 4.54–5.09), and ever seen advertisements or billboards which motivate smoking in various places (AOR=1.33; 95% CI: 1.24–1.42). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking and secondhand smoke are crucial problems that affect health. In addition, related sectors should help to develop a policy recommendation to reduce the smoking rate through social marketing. Strict and comprehensive policies and laws on non-smoking in work places, public spaces, and homes, will help to reduce secondhand smoke exposure among non-smokers.