Incidence of tobacco use among adults (15-64 years) in rural Kerala

Sathish Thirunavukkarasu, Srinivasan Kannan, Sankara P Sarma, Kavumpurathu R Thankappan

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8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We analyzed data from a cohort study in rural Kerala, India, to study the incidence of current smoking and current smokeless tobacco use. At baseline, of 452 individuals aged 15 to 64 years, 385 were current nonsmokers and 402 were current nonusers of smokeless tobacco. Over a mean follow-up of 7.1 ? 0.2 years, 5.5 became current smokers and 9.0 became current smokeless tobacco users. Among men, 21.1 (95 confidence interval [CI] = 11.1-36.4) of younger individuals (15-24 years) became current smokers and 22.2 (CI = 10.6-40.8) of older individuals (55-64 years) became current smokeless tobacco users. No women smoked both at baseline and at follow-up, but 9.7 (CI = 3.4-24.9) of older women (55-64 years) became current smokeless tobacco users. These findings call for effective implementation of India s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)NP626 - NP629
Number of pages4
JournalAsia Pacific Journal of Public Health
Volume27
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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