| Summary: | Background
India is experiencing an epidemic of tobacco use among
its youth. Evidence suggests that smoking tobacco is likely to
increase due to tobacco industry's youth centered marketing strategies. However, little is known about patterns of
use and attitudes towards smoked tobacco products among children in Mumbai.
Methods
A self administered survey was conducted among
1,558 students of 7 th , 8 th , and 9th grades in 50 randomly
selected government run schools in Mumbai in 2014. The survey covered
demographic information, questions about tobacco product use, perception of
harms and family use of tobacco products among children. The results were
analyzed using SPSS.
Results
Cigarettes (2.5%, n=39) were the most
commonly reported smoked tobacco product ever used, followed by bidis (2.1%, n=33)
and hookah (0.3%, n=5). Majority of students identified cigarettes (70.3%, n=1095)
and bidi (57.6%, n=897) harmful to health. However, only 8% (n=125) reported
hookah as a harmful product. Boys were more likely to report ever using
cigarettes and bidis as compared to girls (cigarettes: 3.4% vs 1.5%; bidi: 2.5%
vs 1.5%). Students who smoked cigarettes were significantly less likely to
believe they were harmful to health (OR=0.3;
95%CI=0.1-0.9). Students whose father used tobacco were more likely to report
ever use of cigarettes. (OR=0.4; 95%CI=0.2-0.8).
Conclusions
While the overall reported use of smoked
tobacco products was low among the sampled students, the low levels of
knowledge and lack of perceived harm associated with these products is worrying
and may lead to higher smoked tobacco use in future. School-based tobacco
control programs are needed to ensure students understand the risks of smoked
tobacco use. Since reported use is low among students in grades 7, 8 and 9,
this may be the ideal time to intervene. Given the correlation between parental
and child tobacco use, involvement of parents in tobacco control programs
targeting youth will prove beneficial.
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