Tobacco consumption among adolescents in rural Wardha: Where and how tobacco control should focus its attention?

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:The objectives of the present study were to study the pattern of tobacco use among rural adolescents (15-19 years) and to fi nd out reasons for use and non use of tobacco products. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present community-based research, triangulation of qualitative (free list, focus group discussions) and quantitative methods (survey) was undertaken. The study was carried out in surrounding 11 villages of the Kasturba Rural Health Training Centre, Anji during January 2008 where 385 adolescents were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed by house to house visits. After survey, six focus group discussions were undertaken with adolescent boys. RESULTS: About 68.3% boys and 12.4% girls had consumed any tobacco products in last 30 days. Out of boys who had consumed tobacco, 79.2% consumed kharra, and 46.4% consumed gutka. Among boys, 51.2% consumed it due to peer pressure, 35.2% consumed tobacco as they felt better, and fi ve percent consumed tobacco to ease abdominal complaints and dental problem. Among girls, 72% used dry snuff for teeth cleaning, 32% and 20% consumed tobacco in the form of gutka and tobacco & lime respectively. The reasons for non use of tobacco among girls were fear of cancer (59%), poor oral health (37.9%). Among non consuming boys it was fear of cancer (58.6%), poor oral health (44.8%) and fear of getting addiction (29.3%). According to FGD respondents, few adolescent boys taste tobacco by 8-10 years of age, while girls do it by 12-13 years. Peer pressure acts as a pro tobacco infl uence among boys who are outgoing and spend more time with their friends. They prefer to consume freshly prepared kharra which was supposed to be less strong (tej) than gutka. Tobacco is being used in treatment of some health problems. Tobacco is chewed after meals for better digestion, given to ease toothache, pain in abdomen and to induce vomiting in suicidal insecticide poisoning. CONCLUSION: The current consumption of any tobacco products among rural adolescents was found very high. Hence, the multi-pronged intervention strategy is needed to tackle the problem.

Frequency of Oral Sub Mucous Fibrosis and Its Correlation with the Level of Education in Patients Coming to a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi from January 2018 to December 2018

“…According the Pakistan Medical association's statistics 1.5 million oral cancers occur due to the use of betel quid and gutka [13]. The use of betel nut was significantly higher in females as compared to males in our study and this finding is in contrast to previous studies conducted in Pakistan and India [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] which shows a high frequency among men, however our results are in line with study in Cambodia and Pacific island of Palau where women are predominant users of Betel nut [11][12]. Also the rare use of female smoking observed in our study is consistent with Cambodia [14], where a significantly low usage is observed among females than males.…”

“…Also the rare use of female smoking observed in our study is consistent with Cambodia [14], where a significantly low usage is observed among females than males. However the use of gutka is more among males which is also in line with previous studies [9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Comparison of Frequency of Substance Abuse with Different Factors with their soothing effects, which is a major compromise in low-income countries substituting low cost substance abuse with healthy diet [14]. However the high usage of betel nut among housewives is very much related to the familial background of consumption as highlighted in previous literature [9][10][11][12][13][14]. No association of habit with education clearly states that there is a need of awareness campaigns at school and college levels which would reduce the menace among the educated class.…”

Socio-Demographic Profile and Factors Attributing to Initiation of Tobacco Use Among Tobacco Consumers in Bellary, India.

“…In the same study focus group discussion revealed the peer pressure acts as pro-tobacco influence among boys who are outgoing and spend more time with their friends. [16] Govt. of India has taken many innovative steps and also legislations were made to combat the drug abuse among young population but Inspite of the best efforts still young population can easily access to the tobacco products.…”

Perception of tobacco use in young adults in urban India: a qualitative exploration with relevant health policy analysis

“…Research indicates that addiction to tobacco is initiated in adolescence and youth in a majority of cases [19–21]. Many of these users demonstrate a very early smoking debut in the age group of 15–24 years [19–21] and a significant proportion of India’s current population fall into this group [20]. In addition, a majority of the tobacco-related deaths happen at a very young age [3, 6].…”