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Zhou, "Comparison of senior middle school students' smoking behavior between urban and rural area in China," 2007.

USC thesis in Biostatistics.
August 21, 2009
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Yan Zhou, M.S

Abstract (Summary)

This study examined the smoking behavior among 3818 middle school students (9 th graders') in either urban or rural area across four geographic regions in China. After adjusting for age, peer and parental smoking, rural boys demonstrate more severe smoking behaviors compared to urban boys (odds ratio [OR] =1.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.36-2.62 for lifetime smoking; OR =1.28, 95% CI =0.93-1.77 for past month smoking; and OR =2.04, 95% CI =1.27-3.26 for a lifetime whole cigarette use). Rural girls, on the other hand, were less likely to smoke than urban girls. Smoking initiation age was not statistically significantly different between rural and urban students. Across the four regions, the students in the southwest region had a higher smoking prevalence than those in the other three regions. Our findings suggest that rural boys and urban girls, especially those in the southwest region, are important populations for tobacco control interventions.

Advisor: Azen, Stanley Paul, Chou, Chih-Ping
Committee members: Unger, Jennifer

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