English

Abstract

Introduction: Tobacco use can affect human health adversely and can lead to loss of productivity due to tobacco-related illnesses. It is a major cause of premature death across the world and in India. Objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of tobacco use among adults in rural field practice area. (2) To study the knowledge and attitude regarding tobacco use. (3) To study the willingness to quit tobacco among its users. Methods; Study design: Cross sectional study. Study area: Rural field practice area of Department of Community Medicine. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from consenting adults during field visits. Tobacco usage status was categorised as per the WHO guidelines and the data was entered and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0(SPSS South Asia, Bangalore). Results are presented in frequencies and percentages. Chisquare test was applied to study association of factors with tobacco usage. Results: A total of 223 individuals were included in the study which comprised 139 (62.3%) males and 84 (37.7%) females. Of the surveyed population, 77(34.5%) were ever users of tobacco with 63(81.8%) being current users and 14 (19.2%) ex-users. Majority (89.7%) of the people were aware that tobacco use has harmful effects on health. Among current consumers, 47 (74.6%) of them were willing to quit tobacco. Conclusion: The study shows that inspite of having adequate knowledge regarding the ill-effects of tobacco use; the prevalence of its use is considerably high. Hence, there is a need to convert the knowledge into practice by behaviour change communication and provide timely support services like tobacco cessation clinics in the community.