Background: Despite the known harmful effects of tobacco smoking, it is still a common risk behavior of young adults worldwide.
Aim: To measure correlates associated with cigarette smoking among young-men residents of Qena, Upper Egypt and subsequent
chronic bronchial illness. Methods: A total 1000randomly selected men 20-44years old attending the outpatient department (OPD) of
Quena University Hospital (QUH) were interviewed, 06/2018 – 05/2019. A predesigned questionnaire, clinical examination and chest
x-ray (CXR) were used. Results: The mean subjects’ age was 32.2±2.3y; 98.2% were single, 50.6% recent graduates, 45% a workforce,
and 4.4% were jobless. Further, 66.4% were of middle socioeconomic status (SES). Education-wise, 69.8% subjects had >9 year–and
30.2% had ≤ 9year education. Current smokers accounted 266 (26.6%) of the study population. Middle – and – high SES subjects
were at higher risk for smoking (28.8%, 36.7, respectively) than low SES peers (18.8%). Subjects with ≤ 9 year education were at a
significantly higher risk for smoking than those more educated [33.1% vs. 23.8%, χ2(1)= 10.2), p=0.0013]. Manual workers (38.2%)
tended to smoke more than “just graduates” (17.8%) and the jobless (9.1%) [χ2(2)= 58.1, p<0.0001].Respiratory wise, 27.6% of heavy
smokers had bronchial asthma-like symptoms and 17.2 chronic bronchitis symptoms, vs. 20.9%, and 4.7% of light smokers,
respectively [χ2(9)= 301.8, p<0.001]. Conclusions: Higher SES, low education level, and manual work were significant smoking
correlates among participants. The greater the cigarette consumption the higher risk for chronic pulmonary illness. These risks are
quite preventable; efforts to minimize them are required.
Keywords: Smoking; respiratory illness; adults; Qena; Egypt