Background:
Smoking is one of the major public health concerns in Serbia, a country with a high smoking prevalence rate. Previous studies have shown that the impact of smoking on health can vary based on multiple factors related to smokers’ characteristics.

Objectives:
In this study, we aimed to investigate possible health disparities within the smoking population, accounting for their smoking habits, chronic conditions, and sociodemographic factors. In addition, we intended to examine the effect of smoking intensity while controlling for other factors.

Methods:
The survey was conducted using the CAWI method on a quotarepresentative sample of the Serbian general population aged between 18 and 60 (N = 1,005). The questionnaire comprised items related to sociodemographic and smoking variables and several variables related to health, including weight and height, alcohol consumption, and a large set of health issues and chronic condition indicators.

Results:
For this purpose, we analyzed only the subsample of smokers (N = 387; 50.4% females). At the baseline level of analysis, the results revealed that females and people with any chronic condition tend to have higher levels of health issues. Further on, we analyzed the effects of smoking intensity on health, controlling for sex, age, region and type of residence, body mass index, alcohol consumption frequency, chronic conditions, and exposure to tobacco and HTP smoke. The results indicated a higher level of health issues in individuals smoking over one pack per day compared to those who smoke less than one pack, although the effect size was small (partial η2 = 0.025). There was no significant interaction between sex, the presence of chronic conditions, and smoking frequency.

Conclusions:
It can be concluded that females, people with any chronic condition, and heavy smokers face a greater risk of worsened health resulting from tobacco use.