Abstract. Background : Smoking and tobacco use is a major public health issue in developing countries. We performed an epidemiological study to determine ...
Original Article
Prevalence of Tobacco Use and Awareness of Risks Among School Children in Jaipur V Singh*, R Gupta** Abstract Background : Smoking and tobacco use is a major public health issue in developing countries. We performed an epidemiological study to determine the prevalence of smoking and tobacco-use and awareness of risks of tobacco use among school children. Methods : Students in randomly selected schools in Jaipur were studied. Students in classes 9-12 (age 13-18 years, boys 2866, girls 939) were enrolled. Medical social workers filled in information regarding presence of smoking and other forms of tobacco use among these children. Details of presence of tobacco use among family members, awareness of harms of tobacco and proactive role of children were also inquired. Results : Fifty nine boys (2.1%, 95% confidence interval1.5% to 2.6%) and 16 girls (1.7%, 0.9% to 2.5%) agreed to current tobacco use. Smoking cigarettes or bidis was present in 43 boys (1.5%, 72.8% of users) and 8 girls (0.8%, 50.0% of users). Smoking or tobacco use was present in immediate family of 1208 boys (42.1%) and 304 girls (32.4%) (p15 years prevalence was reported as 21% for cigarette smoking and 21% for bidi. In Rajasthan, Gupta et al5,6 reported prevalence of smoking or tobacco use of 51% in rural men, 5% in rural women, 39% in urban men and 19% in urban women while Venkat Narayan et al reported smoking prevalence of 45% in men and 7% in women in Delhi.7 In Mumbai, Gupta et al8 reported current tobacco use in 69% men (smokers 23.6%) and 57% women. Smoking and tobacco use among children has not been extensively reported from India although some small studies exist. Vaidya et al9 reported tobacco use in 13.5% boys and 9.5% girls in Goa. Jayant et al10 reported tobacco use of 6.9% to 22.5% among 1278 boys and 353 girls belonging to different types of schools in Mumbai and George et al11 studied 146 children in Kerala and reported tobacco use in 29% and smoking in 2%. Therefore, to determine prevalence of tobacco use and knowledge, attitude and practice of tobacco control among a larger sample of school children, we performed an epidemiological study in Jaipur, North-West India.
METHODS The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. As part of tobacco control and asthma awareness programme managed by a non-governmental organisation (Indian Asthma Care Society) in Jaipur, Rajasthan, we randomly enrolled schools for evaluation of tobacco use and awareness. Statistical analysis: Results are reported separately for boys and girls. Prevalence rates are reported in percent. Inter-group differences have been analyzed for significance using chi-square test or z-test as appropriate. P value
