The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Most studies report on association between respiratory health and passive smoking, There is very little data on prevalence and pattern of ETS exposure in households with children at the general population level in India.

Methods: Data from the 2000 rapid assessment survey on substance use of 11459 households surveyed in jodhpur district in Rajasthan state , west India was reanalyzed. The survey used a multistage sample design and sample represented the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the district. A key informant/Head of household was interviewed on proforma based on DSM-IIIR criteria(APA,1987).

Results: Among surveyed households, about 40% had at least one male or female tobacco user (smokable or non-smokable forms); 22.9% households had atleast one smoker. Among smoking households,71.7% had 1-4 children below 10 years. Among tobacco smokers, at least 78% had dependent tobacco use. From the household perspective, daily smoking by residents occurs in 99.3% of homes in which children below 10 years reside. In 55.4% of homes with children where residents smoke at home, they smoke > 20 cig. a day.

Many children live in homes exposed to ETS. Clinicians who take care of tobacco users need to advise them on how to limit children's ETS exposure. The information on parent smoking behaviors can form the basis for policy formulation on tobacco control programmes and serve as important indicators for their evaluation in the district /region though more research is needed to explore the adopting of ETS risk-reducing behaviors.