A Study of Substance Use among Construction Workers in Suburban Hyderabad

Abstract

Background: Tobacco and Alcohol are the most important substances which influenced the health status of the population worldwide. Globally over 450 million tobacco related deaths may occur. Objective: To study the substance abuse among workers at a construction site in relation to the socio demographic profile. Methods: study design – community based cross sectional study done at construction sites in suburban Hyderabad. Convenient sample of work sites and systematic sampling of individuals was taken. The sample size was 353 adults with 295 men (83.53%) and 58 women (16.4%) aged above 18years. The socio demographic profile, tobacco and alcohol use, known morbidity were recorded, Height, weight, chest expansion and blood pressure were measured. The results were analysed on MSExcel and SPSS systems. Chi square test and t test were used for analysis. Results: 53.1% were using either tobacco or alcohol. 25.3% were consuming alcohol and 38.6 % were using tobacco, 20.2% were smoking and 25% were chewing tobacco. 52% of men and 20.6% of women abuse substance. There was significance in substance use in relation to gender, family size and morbidity. The socio economic class, education and occupation did not show a marked difference in substance use. There was no significant difference in means of BMI (21.3), blood pressure- Systolic (118.8mmHg), diastolic Blood Pressures (78.5mmHg), but a significant difference was there in chest expansion (83.4 & 81.3) and morbidity states. Conclusion: Our study showed 25.3% using alcohol and 38.6% using tobacco. Nearly one third of the workers are abusing substance. Tobacco use especially chewing is very high in the study population.

Keywords

• alcohol
• tobacco use
• socio economic status scale
• blood pressure
• chest expansion
• bmi