Table 2.

Adult tobacco smoking in Colombia, 2003: Selected smoking history characteristics of regular smokers.

	n	Regular smokera	Current smoking status		Estimates of persistance of smoking amongst regular smokers
			Former/Quit	Persistentb	Unadjustedc Odds ratio (95% CI)	Adjustedc,d Odds ratio (95% CI)	p-value
Age first smoked
ages <12	213	15.4	14.5	16.1	1.1 (0.6-1.9)	1.4 (0.8-2.6)	0.265
ages 13-15	352	27.4	28.4	26.6	0.9 (0.6-1.4)	1.0 (0.6-1.6)	0.959
ages 16-18	436	33.7	32.9	34.3	1.0	1.0
ages 19-21	171	13.1	13.2	13.1	1.0 (0.6-1.5)	1.2 (0.7-1.9)	0.498
ages22-25	82	5.3	6.8	4.1	0.6 (0.3-1.1)	0.8 (0.4-1.6)	0.550
ages 26 and above	56	3.8	2.9	4.6	1.5 (0.6-4.0)	2.8 (1.1-7.4)	0.038
Missing	13	1.2	1.3	1.2	0.9 (0.2-4.7)	1.1 (0.2-6.8)	0.924
Days per year smokede
1-99 days	90	7.1	7.2	7.0	1.0	1.0
100-299 days	71	5.1	4.1	6.0	1.5 (0.6-4.0)	1.4 (0.5-3.8)	0.451
300-365 days	608	45.3	36.8	52.0	1.4 (0.7-3.0)	1.7 (0.9-3.4)	0.103
Never smoked once a week for at least two m onths	554	42.5	51.9	35.1	0.7 (0.4-1.4)	0.7 (0.4-1.4)	0.313
Cigarettes smoked per daye
1-2	166	11.7	8.6	14.3	1.0	1.0
3-9	243	18.2	14.0	21.6	0.9 (0.5-1.6)	1.1 (0.7-1.9)	0.650
10-19	175	13.0	12.1	138.0	0.7 (0.4-1.3)	0.8 (0.4-1.5)	0.455
20 or more	186	14.1	14.0	14.1	0.6 (0.3-1.1)	0.8 (0.4-1.4)	0.390
Never smoked once a week for at least two m onths	553	43.0	51.4	36.3	0.4 (0.3-0.6)	0.5 (0.3-0.8)	0.002
Years of daily smoking
1-2 years	159	13.0	11.4	14.3	1.0	1.0
3-9 years	185	12.4	12.6	12.3	0.8 (0.4-1.6)	0.9 (0.4-1.8)	0.731
10-14 years	81	7.0	7.6	6.4	0.7 (0.3-1.5)	0.7 (0.3-1.6)	0.462
15 or more	267	19.5	13.4	24.4	1.4 (0.8-2.6)	2.5 (1.4-4.6)	0.004
Never smoked daily	631	48.1	54.9	42.6	0.6 (0.4-1.1)	0.7 (0.4-1.2)	0.158

Note:

^aRegular smokers are individuals currently smoking, as well as self-identified former smokers.

^bPersistent smokers were actively smoking in the year prior to assessment.

^cThese odds ratios convey the strength of association linking each smoking history variable with the odds of continuing to smoke (i.e., not quitting), once regular smoking occurred.

^dAdjusted for sociodemographic variables.

^eWhen smoking the most.