Prevalence and Health Consequences of Smoking among Pacific Islanders: A Systematic Review Study

Smoking remains to be a main cause of preventable death and illness in both developing and developed countries. The high prevalence of smoking consumption contributes to significant healthrelated diseases. While the rate of smoking use is reducing in most countries, Pacific countries still have a high smoking prevalence. This systematic review study is aimed at understanding the prevalence of smoking and its health consequences among Pacific countries. Methods: This systematic review study utilized five databases including Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PsychInfo, and Scopus to find relevant studies. Cochrane library guideline was used to process the search and appraise the quality of the articles. Articles that were published in English, from 1st January 2000 to 1st August 2016, were included in the search using keywords such as Pacific, Smoking, Tobacco, cigar, and risk factors and consequence. The titles, abstracts, and full texts of all relevant articles were reviewed by two coders and a data extraction sheet including studies characteristics, participants, and methodological information was made. A descriptive statistical analysis was applied to measure the frequency and health consequences of smoking among Pacific countries. Results: Twenty-four studies were reviewed. Most of the studies were conducted in South Pacific countries (37.5%) using descriptive methodology. Most of the studies focused on community (37.5%) as the target group. There was a range of 3%-75% in smoking prevalence in different populations. While the highest prevalence of smoking consumption in community based studies was reported among men in Kiribati, the highest prevalence in hospital based studies was 40% among Pacific males in New Zealand and the lowest was among pregnant women in the western Pacific Region. Smoking has been recognized as the most common risk factor of hemorrhagic stroke (25%), more than any other disease and condition among Pacific people. Conclusion: The results of this study highlighted different ranges of smoking prevalence among different population groups in Pacific countries. Health consequences of smoking were different and based on different populations. Policy change, along with a comprehensive preventive approach using community norms, needs to be considered to prevent smoking among Pacific Islanders.