Background: Mass media exposure is a strong determinant of tobacco use yet little is known about this relationship in African countries. We explored socio-demographic and socio-contextual correlates of tobacco consumption and associations between mass media exposure, gender and the use of any and various forms of tobacco among Nigerians.
Methods: The study included 47,805 adults from the cross-sectional and nationally representative Nigeria demographic and health survey 2008. Weighted binary logistic models predicted any tobacco use whereas weighted multinomial logistic models predicted smoking and smokeless tobacco, all compared with no tobacco use.
Results: Approximately 4.2% of Nigerian adults used tobacco--2.7% smoked tobacco whereas 1.5% used smokeless tobacco. Tobacco use was more prevalent among men than women (12% vs. 0.6%; p value <0.0001). Gender modified the associations between tobacco use and radio exposure or TV exposure (p values ranged = 0.02-0.05). Among men, some radio exposure and high radio exposure were associated with increased odds of any tobacco use, compared with no radio exposure. Among men, infrequently reading newspapers/magazines and frequently reading newspapers/magazines were associated with higher odds of smokeless tobacco use, compared with not reading newspapers/magazines. Among women, infrequently reading newspapers/magazines was associated with reduced odds of smokeless tobacco use, compared with not reading newspaper/magazines.
Conclusions: The relationships between mass media exposure and tobacco consumption differed by gender and were more pronounced among men. Research on radio programs may help to form policies that can address tobacco use among Nigerian men.