A Study of Prevalence of Tobacco Use Among Adult Women in Mehrauli Area of Delhi

Dr Tapas Kumar Ray, Asmi Mohamed, Balraj Dhiman

Dr Tapas Kumar Ray, Asmi Mohamed, Balraj Dhiman Professor , Community Medicine LHMC, Delhi

Keywords: Tobacco, tobacco in women, smokeless tobacco, tobacco habits, tobacco users, anti tobacco measures

Abstract

Background: Tobacco use among men is in slow decline but it is rising in women. About 250 million women in the world are daily smokers. About 22% of women in developed countries and 9% of women in developing countries smoke tobacco. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey conducted in 2009-10 the prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco was 24.3% and 32.9% respectively in men vs 2.9% and 18.4% in women.
Aims and Objectives: To find the prevalence, mode and type of tobacco used, age of initiation, reasons for initiation and factors promoting quitting of tobacco among women (≥ 18 years) in Mehrauli area of Delhi.
Materials and methods: A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in ward 1 and 7 in Mehrauli area of Delhi. Sampling units were households and study units were women aged above 18 years of age. Households in each ward was selected by simple random sampling method using randomly numbered tables. The women were explained about the purpose of the study and interviewed after taking informed consent. A semi structured interview schedule was designed. It was pretested and modified accordingly before applying it in the study.
Results: Out of 770 study subjects 79.5% (n=612) never used tobacco. Proportion of current and past users of tobacco was 17% (n=131) and 3.5% (n=27) respectively. Among the current users, majority (68.7%) used smokeless tobacco. Paan with tobacco was the most common product used by current users (26.6%) followed by bidi (20.9%) and gul. The mean age of initiation of tobacco use was 19±4.3 years. The most common cause of initiation of tobacco use was due to the myth that it has medicinal effects (36.1%). Out of 27 past users, 18 (66.6%) had quit tobacco due to development of awareness regarding ill effects of tobacco.
Conclusion: The present study throws light on tobacco habits among women and provides important cues to policy makers for devising anti tobacco measures. Recent emphasis has broadened to encompass strategies discouraging tobacco use for entire community and it is high time to embrace women under this umbrella.

Source of support: Self-financed.
Conflict of interest: None declared.

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