Background:
Cameroon has substantial prevalence of both smoking and smokeless tobacco consumption, as well as of relative weak dual consumption. Cameroon's tobacco consumption appears to have geographical both urban and rural influences. The gender also seems to play an important role in influencing patterns of tobacco consumption nationwide. This study analyzes the determinants of smoking and smokeless tobacco consumption in Cameroon.

Methods:
This study uses the 2011 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey to analyze both smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco consumption, stratified by gender and residence (urban/rural). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between gender-based tobacco consumption and residence (urban/rural), age, marital status, education, socioeconomic quintile, and ethnic group.

Results:
The analysis indicates that both men and women consume two distinctly different tobacco products. Tobacco is almost exclusively consumed by large proportions of men in both urban (12,23% for smoking tobacco and 1,52% for smokeless tobacco) and rural (19,15% for smoking tobacco and 3,94% for smokeless tobacco). The prevalence of tobacco consumption is less than 1% for women in both urban and rural areas for both smoking and smokeless tobacco. Conversely, while tobacco consumption does not appear to be related to socioeconomic status for women, it is likely that both the age and economic quintile influence the tobacco consumption of men in both rural and urban areas of the country. These tobacco consumption patterns are a reflection of the different production and market distribution for smokeless tobacco and smoking tobacco in Cameroon.

Conclusions:
Distinct geographical by urban and rural, gender and socioeconomic distribution of tobacco consumption patterns are explored in order to begin the understanding of the tobacco epidemic environment in Cameroon.