IADR Abstract Archives
Tobacco Smoking Patterns, Awareness and Expenditure in Chennai City, India
Objectives: The objective of present study was to assess smoking patterns, awareness, and expenditure amongst smokers and to examine factors associated with the severity of smoking in Chennai city.
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted with the use of pre structured questionnaire tool targeting 402 current smokers in 6 urban oral Health Centers. Smokers were categorized based on pack-years as mild, moderate, and heavy smokers A survey tool was designed to assess demographic variables, smoking patterns, knowledge about hazards and expenditure. Chi-square test of independence with calculation of odds ratios was used for categorical variables.
Results: It is evident from this study that more than 50% of the smokers started smoking because of peer pressure and 33.5% due to stress. In the present study, 78.5% smokers were literates and were belonging to lower socioeconomic class. The study also showed that although 72.5% of smokers showed interest to quit smoking, only 51% of them attempted to quit and 98.5% of them are not confident. Though only 20% of current smokers were not aware of the consequences of active smoking, more than 80% did not know about ill effects of passive smoking. The lowest socioeconomic class spends 34% of their income on tobacco products compared to 11 % in the highest class.
Conclusions: To conclude, the present study reported the pattern of smoking and a low success rate to quit smoking. Concerted efforts are needed to provide culturally appropriate smoking cessation information and assistance for this population. Hence improving the awareness about ill effects of smoking in India should be able to control oral cancer and lead to amelioration of the epidemic of life style diseases.
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted with the use of pre structured questionnaire tool targeting 402 current smokers in 6 urban oral Health Centers. Smokers were categorized based on pack-years as mild, moderate, and heavy smokers A survey tool was designed to assess demographic variables, smoking patterns, knowledge about hazards and expenditure. Chi-square test of independence with calculation of odds ratios was used for categorical variables.
Results: It is evident from this study that more than 50% of the smokers started smoking because of peer pressure and 33.5% due to stress. In the present study, 78.5% smokers were literates and were belonging to lower socioeconomic class. The study also showed that although 72.5% of smokers showed interest to quit smoking, only 51% of them attempted to quit and 98.5% of them are not confident. Though only 20% of current smokers were not aware of the consequences of active smoking, more than 80% did not know about ill effects of passive smoking. The lowest socioeconomic class spends 34% of their income on tobacco products compared to 11 % in the highest class.
Conclusions: To conclude, the present study reported the pattern of smoking and a low success rate to quit smoking. Concerted efforts are needed to provide culturally appropriate smoking cessation information and assistance for this population. Hence improving the awareness about ill effects of smoking in India should be able to control oral cancer and lead to amelioration of the epidemic of life style diseases.