OBJECTIVES:

A national health policy by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority implementing standardised packaging for tobacco products began in August 2019. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of tobacco smoking in the initial stage of policy implementation, which can then be used to evaluate the implementation monitoring indicators over time.

METHODS:

We used a dataset from a recent nationwide cross-sectional study conducted among Saudi adults from September 2019 to June 2021. The recruitment began with data collected by means of a questionnaire including demographics, lifestyle behaviours via random phone interviews. A descriptive analysis was conducted to characterise the prevalence of tobacco smoking, and demographic differences among regular, non-regular and former tobacco smokers.

RESULTS:

A total of 5,903 adults aged ≥ 18 years (mean age, 36.4 ± 11.6 years; women, 49.3%) were included in analysis. The weighted national prevalence of current tobacco smokers was 24.5%, former smokers accounted for 4.2% and never smokers for 71.2%. Smoking prevalence was 40.6% among men and 10.7% among women. Of current smokers, 17.7% smoke daily (32.3% men vs 5.2% women), and 6.9% are non-daily or occasional users (8.4% men vs 5.5% women). The 24- to 34-year-old age group had the highest prevalence of tobacco smoking (21.8% and 10.1%, respectively). For former smokers, the prevalence was 8.2% among men and 0.9% among women, and highest among people aged 65 years or above (14.4%). Among people who have never smoked tobacco, the prevalence was 88.4% among women and 51.3% among men, and highest among people aged 45–54 years (80.7%).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study yields relevant, important and timely findings about the prevalence of tobacco smoking in Saudi adults at the national level. Indeed, it is critical for morning routine evaluation of tobacco control progress (i.e. implementing standardised packaging for tobacco products) using these findings as a baseline.