Prevalence of Smoking and Knowledge About the Hazards of Smoking Among 170 000 Chinese Adults, 2013–2014

Abstract

This study showed that tobacco smoking remained highly prevalent among adult men in China in 2013-2014. Moreover, men born in recent decades were more likely to start smoking at younger ages and to smoke more cigarettes than those born in previous generations. There was a large regional variation in male smoking prevalence, with the least economically developed regions having higher prevalence. In contrast, few women in China smoked, especially among those born in recent decades. The contrasting smoking patterns in men and women is likely to result in an increasingly large gender disparity in life expectancy in the coming decades.