Behavioral risk factors and non-communicable diseases among adult men in demographically developed states of India: evidence from District Level Household and Facility Survey-4

Abstract

To examine the association between behavioral habits (alcohol consumption, smoking, and chewing tobacco) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among adult males (18 years and above) in demographically developed states of India. The latest round of the District Level Household and Facility Survey (2012–2013) and multivariate logistic regression model was carried out to accomplish the objective. The analysis reveals that alcohol consumption significantly increases the risk of the respiratory infection and hypertension. However, smoking and smokeless tobacco do not show a significant association with the set of NCDs included in this analysis. Moreover, the adjusted effect of the regression model shows that alcohol consumption, smoking, chewing tobacco, age and BMI are the major risk factors for the occurrence of NCDs among males in states in India. The findings are vital for national commitments and policy instruments, especially in the context of the existing epidemiological transition, which are burdened with a high occurrence of NCDs. They clearly demand programs and services targeting individuals with increased risk of alcohol consumption, a combination of tobacco and alcohol use, and users of multiple substances. It is worth to mentioning that NCDs are a crude measures that does not reveal the reason for the disease. Alcohol consumption, smoking, and chewing tobacco have the lifetime exposure, but NCDs are recurrent events. Therefore, it is recommended that the relationship between behavioral habits and NCDs should be analyse by using longitudinal data instead of cross-sectional data.