Background: Tobacco use remains a substantial public health challenge in China. The rapidly growing rural-to-urban migrant population currently numbering approximately 121 million individuals may be especially vulnerable to tobacco use.
Methods: Cigarette smoking levels and associated factors were examined among 2,201 subjects using cross-sectional data from the Migrant Health Behavior Survey (MHBS), conducted in 2002, Beijing, China.
Results: Respondents (39.3% females) were 18-30 years old with a mean age of 22.7 years; 77.3% were single and 35.6% had at least attended high school for education. Migrants reported an average of 4 years of migratory experience; 28.8% had worked in at least three cities and 36.8 had held at least four jobs. Males (51.7%) and females (10.9%) reported 30-day cigarette use. Smoking levels were positively associated with age, education, income, migration years, number of cities in which the migrants had worked, living in rental properties, and number of jobs held. Smoking levels were negatively associated with job and life satisfaction and living with relatives in Beijing. Smoking levels were not associated with marital status.
Conclusions: Female migrants had disproportionately high rate of cigarette smoking. Several conditions and experiences common to the migratory lifestyle were associated with increased levels of smoking. Tobacco control measures are needed to protect migrant populations in China.