Socioeconomic Predictors of Smoking Behavior Eman Mahfouz1,3, Rehab Abdel Rahman1,2, Ghada Radwan1,5; Eman Al Tahlawy1,5, Mostafa Mohamed1,2, Fatma Abdel-Aziz1,4 and Ebenezer Israel1,6 Egyptian Smoking Prevention Research Institute (ESPRI)1, Ain Shams University Faculty of Medicine 2, Mania University School of Medicine 3, Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population 4 , Cairo University Faculty of Medicine 5 and University of Maryland 6. Acknowledgement : This work was funded by Fogarty International Center (NIH) number TW 05944-01 Background: Knowledge of social and economic predictors of smoking initiation and maintenance are important in efforts to prevent tobacco use. Prevalence of smoking is clearly associated with socioeconomic status (SES), where research shows that lower SES is associated with a higher likelihood of smoking. Figure 2: Number of Quitting Attempts Objective: To characterize the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and cigarette smoking in Egypt. Figure 4: Relationship between monthly income quartiles and smoking levels High work status = professional and high level administrators Middle work status = clerk, middle level administration, trade and production Low work status = Farmer, and service sector Figure 6: Relationship between working status and smoking level Subjects & Methodology: A household smoking health survey was carried out in rural Egypt. Four measures of socioeconomic status (SES) were used: four quartiles for income and material wealth, five levels of education and three occupational categories. Fagerstrom index was used to assess nicotine dependency. Curr = Current Exp = Experimenter Income Quartiles Conclusions and Recommendations: This study highlights that educational levels and working status are targets for intervention. Addressing the social and economic predictors of smoking initiation and maintenance are important in efforts to prevent tobacco use and encourage smoking cessation. In this study, we found that household income had a significant association with quitting attempts. Our results suggest that smoking is a problem of illiteracy and low working status, and not only of poverty. Figure 1: Results: Out of 4994 of adult male smokers, 36% were current smokers and 10% were highly dependent on nicotine. A clear gradient in smoking behavior and SES revealed that current smokers were significantly more likely to have low job status and lower income (p<0.01). Quit attempts were associated with education (p<0.01). Quit attempts were also associated with higher income and higher working status (data not shown).