Pattern of smoking among women in Hormozgan

Background: In recent years, the cause of death of more than 8 million people was smoking, thatMore than 1.5 million of these people were women. The tendency of women to smoke hasincreased, so that the results of studies show that 35% of women and girls have the experience ofusing hookah. Women who are consumers themselves, or are exposed to other people'senvironmental smoke, are victims of this lucrative industry. Therefore, this study examines thestatus of smoking among women in Hormozgan.Methods: This study is descriptive and analytical based on the protocols of the World HealthOrganization and using the WHO standard questionnaire it has been conducted on 500 women ofHormozgan in different urban and rural areas. After coding, the data were entered into SPSSsoftware and subjected to statistical analysis. After examining the research hypotheses, Mann-Whitney, Croxall, Wallis and Table (chi-square) tests were used.Results: The results of the study showed that in general, 17.8% of the studied women were dailyhookah users and 11% smoked cigarettes. The highest frequency of smoking was in the age groupof 45-54 years. There was a statistically significant relationship between the region and the use ofhookah, P≤0.05, However, there was no statistically significant relationship between smoking inurban and rural areas, and most hookah users were in the age group of 55-64 years.Conclusion: Considering the significant difference observed between the use of hookah in urbanand rural areas and considering that women are as a vulnerable group in the society, the use ofhookah among them will cause serious damage to the health of themselves and their families,especially children. Therefore, it seems necessary to follow up and implement self-care andeducational programs regarding the harms of smoking and the effects of environmental smoke.

Pattern of smoking among women in Hormozgan Keywords:

Smoking , Women , Hormozgan