Emerging epidemic in a growing industry: cigarette smoking among female micro-electronics workers in Taiwan
Resource
Public Health v.119 pp.184-188
Journal
Public Health
Journal Volume
v.119
Pages
184-188
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
LIN, YI-PING
YEN, LEE-LAN
PAN, LING-YEN
CHANG, PEI-JEN
CHENG, TSUN-JEN
Abstract
Objective. To explore the emerging tobacco epidemic in female workers in the growing micro-electronics industry of Taiwan. Methods. Workers were surveyed regarding their smoking status, sociodemographics and work characteristics. In total, 1950 female employees in two large micro-electronics companies in Taiwan completed the survey. Results. Approximately 9.3% of the female employees were occasional or daily smokers at the time of the survey. The prevalence of smoking was higher in those aged 16–19 years (20.9%), those not married (12.9%), those with a high school education or less (11.7%), those employed by Company A (11.7%), shift workers (14.3%), and those who had been in their present employment for 1 year or less (13.6%). Results of multivariate adjusted logistic regression indicated that younger age, lower level of education, shorter periods of employment with the company and shift working were the important factors in determining cigarette smoking among the study participants. The odds ratio of being a daily smoker was similar to that of being a current smoker. Marital status was the only significant variable when comparing former smokers with current smokers. Conclusions. Smoking prevalence in female workers in the two micro-electronics companies studied was much higher than previous reports have suggested about female smoking prevalence in Taiwan and China. We suggest that smoking is no Longer a ‘male problem’ in Taiwan. Future smoking cessation and prevention programmes should target young working women as well as men.
Subjects
Cigarette smoking
Female workers
Micro-electronics industry
Taiwan
Type
journal article
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