Exposure to Passive Smoke among Residents of a Rural Population in a District of Northern India

ABSTRACT

Background: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortalityassociated with non communicable diseases like lung cancers, asthma, respiratory infection etc. Therefore the present study was conducted to study the exposure of passive smoke among residents (non smokers) in a rural population of Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1346 adults non smokers aged 25 years and above residing in rural areas. Multistage random sampling was done. Equal number of study subjects were enrolled from six randomly selected villages of Satrikh block in Barabanki district. A pre-designed questionnaire was used for collecting data regarding socio-demographic characteristics and passive exposure to tobacco smoke in home and work places. Results: About 33.1% of study participants at home and 28.4% at workplaces were exposed passively to tobacco smoke. The association between exposure to passive smoke both at home and workplace was found to be significantly associated with younger age group, other backward caste category, educational status and low socioeconomic status (p<0.05). The exposure at workplace was significantly found to be more among males and those who were laborer/ agriculture worker or shopkeeper by occupation (p<0.05). Conclusions: Exposure of passive smoke among adult non-smoker population was found to be quite common both at home and workplaces. This emphasized the importance of need based specific interventions to reduce the risk of exposure and forthcoming smoking related morbidities and mortalities due to passive smoke inhalation.