Attitudes towards smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans in Georgia

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to provide data on a public level of support for restricting smoking in public places and banning tobacco advertisements. DESIGN: A nationally representative multistage sampling design, with sampling strata defined by region (sampling quotas proportional to size) and substrata defined by urban/rural and mountainous/lowland settlement, within which census enumeration districts were randomly sampled, within which households were randomly sampled, within which a randomly selected respondent was interviewed. SETTING: The country of Georgia, population 4.7 million, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. PARTICIPANTS: One household member aged between 13 and 70 was selected as interviewee. In households with more than one age-eligible person, selection was carried out at random. Of 1588 persons selected, 14 refused to participate and interviews were conducted with 915 women and 659 men. OUTCOME MEASURES: Respondents were interviewed about their level of agreement with eight possible smoking restrictions/bans, used to calculate a single dichotomous (agree/do not agree) opinion indicator. The level of agreement with restrictions was analysed in bivariate and multivariate analyses by age, gender, education, income and tobacco use status. RESULTS: Overall, 84.9% of respondents indicated support for smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans. In all demographic segments, including tobacco users, the majority of respondents indicated agreement with restrictions, ranging from a low of 51% in the 13–25 age group to a high of 98% in the 56–70 age group. Logistic regression with all demographic variables entered showed that agreement with restrictions was higher with age, and was significantly higher among never smokers as compared to daily smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Georgian public opinion is normatively supportive of more stringent tobacco-control measures in the form of smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans.