Trends and pattern of tobacco consumption in rural women of Pakistan

ABSTRACT

A cross sectional study of the trends and pattern of tobacco consumption in rural women of selected villages of Pakistan was conducted to know the existing situation. Total 13 villages were selected according to the proportion of population of each province and accordingly six, four, two and one district from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, and Baluchistan were selected respectively through simple random sampling. From each village 100 women of age 15 years and above were interviewed at random. Out of 1300 women, 468 [36%] were found tobacco users. Majority of tobacco users [30.34%] were smokers of Hubble bubble. Tobacco smoking/Chewing was started at a mean age of 23.19 +/- 10.77 years. The mean age for current tobacco consumption was 39.50 +/- 14.68.A high tobacco consumption rate was observed in illiterate, divorced/widow and women farmers. Hubble bubble smoking in Punjab, Naswar taking in NWFP and Balochistan and Biri smoking in Sindh is common most form of tobacco consumption