The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To study the prevalence and pattern of tobacco and non-tobacco product use and the various aspects related to the consumption pattern

Methods: A cross-sectional study using a pre-tested and structured questionnaire. Two stages of sampling were used. First stage was a systematic random sample of school selection. Second stage involved interview of 100 students from each of the 30 schools after a random selection from the entire list of grade 8 to grade 12.

Results: Tobacco use was 13.1% and non-tobacco products (NTP) use 37.7%. Tobacco and NTP use among girls was 1.6% and 25.8% whereas among boys as 25% and 50.1% respectively. Combined use was 20.9% among boys. Use of both was more with increasing age. Per capita income did not influence tobacco use. Duration of use was more than two years was 8.4% for tobacco and 28.3% for NTP users. Cigarette smoking was 2.5 times higher than bidi smoking both among girls and boys. Gutkha chewing was five times more common among boys as compared to girls. Among girls, use of more than 100 times was seen in 11.1% smokers and 14.3 % snuff users. Similar figures for boys were 20.5% and 11.6% respectively and 25.9% boy chewers. Mean age at first attempt at tobacco and NTP use was in the early adolescence in all categories. Reason for initiation of tobacco use among the girls was peer pressure (23.6%) and among boys was curiosity (15.9%). Quit attempts were higher among girls as compared to boys in all forms of tobacco use.