Pattern of Tobacco Consumption and Participants Perception in Relation to Anti-Tobacco Policies among Undergraduate Students in Mangalore

Abstract

Introduction: WHO has estimated that India has the second larg- est number of smokers in the world after china and is the third largest producer of tobacco in the worl. New WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic called “The MPOWER Package” reveals the evidence based strategies to be followed by member countries to control tobacco epidemic. This study was conducted to assess the perceptions in relation to tobacco policy MPOWER measures among under graduate students – Mangalore. Methods: This was a cross sectional study was conducted among 400 randomly selected undergraduate students in Mangalore. Data was obtained by using a pre tested, structured questionnaire. Results: Out of 400 individuals participated. Majority 183(45.8%) belonged to MBBS Course. Among the study group, 112 (28%) were current tobacco users and 47 (12%) were past users. Among tobacco users majority (98.1%) used tobacco in cigarette smoking form followed by chewing (1.9%). 64.2% of the current users were not in favour of raising tax on tobacco products, difference in opin- ion is found to be statistically significant (p=0.001). Conclusion: Tobacco use is a significant problem among the male students population. It was also found that tobacco users demon- strated greater resistance to anti tobacco policy as compared with non-users.

Keywords

• Tobacco
• MPOWER
• Students
• Perceptions