BackgroundTobacco smoking issues in developing countries are usually taught non-systematically as and when the topic arose. The World Health Organisation and Global Health Professional Student Survey (GHPSS) have suggested introducing a separate integrated tobacco module into medical school curricula. Our aim was to assess medical students' tobacco smoking habits, their practices towards patients' smoking habits and attitude towards teaching about smoking in medical schools.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out among final year undergraduate medical students in Malaysia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire included items on demographic information, students' current practices about patients' tobacco smoking habits, their perception towards tobacco education in medical schools on a five point Likert scale. Questions about tobacco smoking habits were adapted from GHPSS questionnaire. An 'ever smoker' was defined as one who had smoked during lifetime, even if had tried a few puffs once or twice. 'Current smoker' was defined as those who had smoked tobacco product on one or more days in the preceding month of the survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated.ResultsOverall response rate was 81.6% (922/1130). Median age was 22 years while 50.7% were males and 48.2% were females. The overall prevalence of 'ever smokers' and 'current smokers' was 31.7% and 13.1% respectively. A majority (> 80%) of students asked the patients about their smoking habits during clinical postings/clerkships. Only a third of them did counselling, and assessed the patients' willingness to quit. Majority of the students agreed about doctors' role in tobacco control as being role models, competence in smoking cessation methods, counseling, and the need for training about tobacco cessation in medical schools. About 50% agreed that current curriculum teaches about tobacco smoking but not systematically and should be included as a separate module. Majority of the students indicated that topics about health effects, nicotine addiction and its treatment, counselling, prevention of relapse were important or very important in training about tobacco smoking.ConclusionMedical educators should consider revising medical curricula to improve training about tobacco smoking cessation in medical schools. Our results should be supported by surveys from other medical schools in developing countries of Asia.

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positive linear relationship between adherence and cessation rates however, adherence to NRT among unmotivated smokers is uncertain. Methods Chinese smokers who aged $18, had no intention to quit within 4-week and had no contraindication to NRT were recruited and randomly allocated to Group A1, A2 and B in a RCT. Only Group A1 and A2 were provided 8-week free NRT. We reported 8-week adherence rate to NRT at 3-month and reasons for noncompliance among subjects in Group A1 and A2.Results From October 2004 to April 2007, 1154 smokers were recruited (Group A1¼479; A2¼449; B¼226). Subjects in Group A1 and A2 (n¼928) were 42.0610.3 year-old and smoked 19.669.4 cigarettes daily on average. We contacted 797 subjects (85.9%) for 3-month follow-up, but those who did not receive 8-week free NRT (n¼115; 14.4%) were removed from the analysis. 55.4% (378/682) used NRT as the recommended regime, 41.6% (284/682) did not fully comply with the prescription and 3.0% (20/682) even did not use it. Among 304 (n¼284+20) who did not comply, "Forget to use" (24.0%) and "Side effects" (14.5%) are the two most cited reasons for non-compliance. Conclusion The adherence rate in this study is more encouraging compared to a local study (20%) which only provided 1-week free NRT. Thus, providing the entire course of free NRT seems to yield an improved NRT adherence among unmotivated Chinese smokers. Introduction The relationship between dementia and socioeconomic deprivation is unclear. This study examined the association between social position and dementia, and determined the prevalence of dementia diagnosed using the 10/66 algorithms in people with high levels of absolute poverty but low levels of cardiovascular risk factors and depression. Methods Prospective cohort study of 1766 elders in rural and urban community-dwellings in Anhui, China. Standardised mental status measures were administered and socioeconomic and risk factors were characterised at baseline. At 6.2-year follow-up, dementia cases were identified using the 10/66 algorithms, causes of death and reports by psychiatrists. Results The world age-standardised prevalence of dementia diagnosed by the 10/66 algorithms was 5.41% (95% CI (4.26% to 6.55%)); in men 4.38% (2.88% to 5.89%) and in women 6.44% (4.76% to 8.13%). The risk of dementia significantly and independently increased with age, lower educational level, uncontrolled hypertension, not watching television, feeling lonely and hearing problems. Compared to those that achieved an educational level of $ secondary school and middle income participants, those with lower educational attainment and in the lowest or highest income groups had a higher risk of dementia; multiple adjusted OR (AOR) were 2.99 (1.24 to 7.23) and 3.30 (1.09 to 9.97) respectively. Business/non-labouring participants with educational levels of # primary school had the highest risk of dementia (AOR 3.80 (1.43 to 10.1)) compared to other combinations of occupational class and educational level. Conclusions Increasing income and minimising the gap in income b...

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