A recent study has found that the public health concern caused by tobacco products continues to be high in Kerala despite persistent campaigns and legislative measures to discourage the unhealthy habit.
While signalling caution and determined action, the study has recommended effective implementation of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA)-2003, to tackle the worrisome incidence of tobacco use.
According to the study while 21.1 per cent of young men (15-24 years) are prone to smoking habit, 22.2 per cent of men between the ages of 55 and 64 has been addicted to smokeless tobacco products over seven years.
The findings of the study, conducted in rural areas of Thiruvananthapuram district, have been summarised in an article titled 'Incidence of Tobacco Use Among Adults (15-64 years) in Rural Kerala' published in a recent edition of Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health.
The study was conducted by Dr T Sathish, Dr Srinivasan Kannan, Dr P Sankara Sarma and Dr K R Thankappan of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology here.
Principal author Dr Sathish said "COTPA is quite a unique legislation. Besides comprehensively listing the dos and don'ts for effective tobacco control, COTPA can be a very powerful tool for prevention of lifestyle diseases.
The study evaluated the incidence of current smoking and current smokeless tobacco use over a seven-year period in a sample of 452 males and females aged 15 to 64 years using the World Health Organisation's STEPS approach.
The STEPS approach is an instrument of chronic disease risk factor surveillance and it involves three steps--- questionnaire, physical measurements and biochemical measurements.
Current smokers and current smokeless tobacco users are defined as those who had used any of these products in the last 30 days.
Smoking products include cigarettes and bidis while smokeless tobacco products included in the study are snuff, betel quid with tobacco and 'gutkha'.
While there is seen a shift of preference from smoking to smokeless tobacco among men it did not translate into total abstinence from smoking.
