Tobacco Use Patterns and Associated Factors Among Youth in Kampala’s Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bwaise

Tobacco Use Patterns and Associated Factors Among Youth in Kampala’s Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bwaise | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Tobacco Use Patterns and Associated Factors Among Youth in Kampala’s Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bwaise Joyce Nakitende, Anthony Kirabira, Adelaine Aryaija-Karemani, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6682635/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Tobacco use among the youth in Uganda remains higher than general national estimates. To tackle this challenge, the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa and the World Health Organization assert a need for current data and tobacco use monitoring with emphasis on most at-risk populations. In Uganda, routine monitoring is done through quinquennials; Uganda Demographic Health Survey , World Health Organisation stepwise surveys, Global Adult Tobacco Survey and Global Youth Tobacco Survey. Although recent assessments reported tobacco use among the general population, current data is scarce among the youth in informal settlements. We sought to assess the patterns of tobacco use and associated factors among the youth in informal settlements, with focus on daily tobacco smoking and smokeless tobacco use. Methods: We used a cross-sectional study design. Secondary data which was collected between March 2021 and April 2021 among 422 youth aged 18-30 in Bwaise was used. We used STATA version 17.0 to analyse the data, and Modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors to assess for associations. Results: The daily smokers were 160/422 (37.9%) while the smokeless tobacco users were 69/422 (16.4%). ‘ Kibanga ’ was the most smoked product (145/160) daily. Being male ( adj . PR=1.68 [95%CI=1.27-2.23]), aged 21-30 years (adj.PR=1.72 [95% CI=1.28-2.33]), below secondary education (adj.PR=0.69[95%CI=0.56-0.87]), from central Uganda (adj.PR=0.64[95%CI=0.46-0.89]), not knowing that smoking causes serious illness (adj.PR=1.5[95%CI=1.11-2.03]), heart attacks (adj.PR=1.49[95%CI=1.11-4.83]) and lung cancer (adj.PR=1.71[95%CI=1.25-2.35]) were significantly associated with daily tobacco smoking. Age 21-30 years (adj.PR=1.75 [95%CI=1.04-2.96]), not believing that smokeless tobacco causes heart attacks and serious illness (adj.PR=3.02 [95%CI=1.87-4.87]) were associated with smokeless tobacco use. Conclusion: Daily tobacco smoking and smokeless tobacco use prevalence were both higher than the national estimates. Future policy interventions among among youth in informal settlements should target males, aged 21-30 years, of education level below secondary, originating from central Uganda, as well as address knowledge gaps on the dangers of tobacco use Tobacco use patterns youth informal settlements daily tobacco smoking smokeless tobacco use kibanga Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6682635","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":457757384,"identity":"727600ea-99ba-4c11-aa41-4b1758ab4a40","order_by":0,"name":"Joyce 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Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Tobacco use patterns, youth, informal settlements, daily tobacco smoking, smokeless tobacco use, kibanga","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6682635/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6682635/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTobacco use among the youth in Uganda remains higher than general national estimates. To tackle this challenge, the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa and the World Health Organization assert a need for current data and tobacco use monitoring with emphasis on most at-risk populations. In Uganda, routine monitoring is done through quinquennials; Uganda Demographic Health Survey , World Health Organisation stepwise surveys, Global Adult Tobacco Survey and Global Youth Tobacco Survey. Although recent assessments reported tobacco use among the general population, current data is scarce among the youth in informal settlements. We sought to assess the patterns of tobacco use and associated factors among the youth in informal settlements, with focus on daily tobacco smoking and smokeless tobacco use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods: \u003c/strong\u003eWe used a cross-sectional study design. Secondary data which was collected between March 2021 and April 2021 among 422 youth aged 18-30 in Bwaise was used. We used STATA version 17.0 to analyse the data, and Modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors to assess for associations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults: \u003c/strong\u003eThe daily smokers were 160/422 (37.9%) while the smokeless tobacco users were 69/422 (16.4%). ‘\u003cem\u003eKibanga\u003c/em\u003e’ was the most smoked product (145/160) daily. Being male \u003cstrong\u003e(\u003c/strong\u003eadj\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003c/strong\u003ePR=1.68 [95%CI=1.27-2.23]), aged 21-30 years (adj.PR=1.72 [95% CI=1.28-2.33]), below secondary education (adj.PR=0.69[95%CI=0.56-0.87]), from central Uganda (adj.PR=0.64[95%CI=0.46-0.89]), not knowing that smoking causes serious illness (adj.PR=1.5[95%CI=1.11-2.03]), heart attacks (adj.PR=1.49[95%CI=1.11-4.83]) and lung cancer (adj.PR=1.71[95%CI=1.25-2.35]) were significantly associated with daily tobacco smoking. Age 21-30 years (adj.PR=1.75 [95%CI=1.04-2.96]), not believing that smokeless tobacco causes heart attacks and serious illness (adj.PR=3.02 [95%CI=1.87-4.87]) were associated with smokeless tobacco use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion: \u003c/strong\u003eDaily tobacco smoking and smokeless tobacco use prevalence were both higher than the national estimates. Future policy interventions among among youth in informal settlements should target males, aged 21-30 years, of education level below secondary, originating from central Uganda, as well as address knowledge gaps on the dangers of tobacco use\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Tobacco Use Patterns and Associated Factors Among Youth in Kampala’s Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bwaise","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-20 04:53:00","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6682635/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"844d1acb-981c-457b-8009-2298a5467669","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 20th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-10T19:08:21+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-20 04:53:00","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6682635","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6682635","identity":"rs-6682635","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}