In-home Smoking in Households with Women of Reproductive Age in Nepal: Does Women's Empowerment Matter?

Authors examined the prevalence and predictors of in-home smoking in households with women of reproductive age. They analyzed data from 9,837 ever married women from 2011 Nepal Demographic Health Survey. About 17 percent of women and 66 percent of their husbands smoked and 58 percent of the women lived in homes that permitted in-home smoking. About 6 percent of the women were pregnant and 42 percent had given birth within the past five years. In-home tobacco use was equally prevalent in homes with and without young children and irrespective of women's pregnancy status. Husband's use of tobacco doubled the odds of in-home smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 2.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.52-3.69) and wife's use of tobacco quadrupled the odds of in-home smoking controlling for other factors (OR = 3.94; 95% CI = 3.30-4.70). In addition, employed women were 39 percent more likely to allow in-home smoking than their unemployed counterparts (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.19-1.63). Protective factors against in-home smoking were women's education, intrahousehold decision-making ability, household wealth, and urban residence. To reduce in-home smoking, social workers should increase awareness about the adverse consequences of secondhand smoke by providing counseling services to male and female tobacco users.