Prevalence of Various forms of Tobacco Use and Factors Related with it in Diamond Cutting and Polishing Workers of Surat City, India.

ABSTRACT

Over 8 lakh deaths occur every year due to diseases associated with tobacco use in India. The cancer registry data reveals that 48% of cancers in males and 20% in females are tobacco related and are totally avoidable. The present study evaluated socio demographic profile of diamond cutting and polishing workers of Surat city. Additively, the prevalence of various forms of tobacco use and factors related with it in diamond cutting and polishing workers was also studied. The present study was a cross sectional study of 295 diamond cutting and polishing workers selected randomly from different diamond units and interviewed with pre designed and pre tested semi st ructured questionnaire. Data on socio demographic characteristics, various forms of tobacco use and its related factors was collected and analysed with MS Excel and Epi info7. It was seen that the mean age of diamond workers was 29.51±9.02. About 71.2 % workers had history of tobacco use in different forms, from them, 68.1 % were currently consuming tobacco and 3.1 % had already quit their habit. Mean age of starting tobacco was 21.44±6.35 among current users. Mawa-masala (79.6%), khainee (22.39%) and Gutkha (4.48%) were preferred forms of smokeless tobacco among current-users. Smoking form of tobacco was used by 11.4 % of current user, out of which 9.4 % were bidi smokers and 2 % were cigarette smokers. Most common reason for tobacco initiation was peer pressure (74.13%), followed by psychological stress (47.76%). It was concluded that the prevalence of tobacco use among diamond workers is very high compared to that in general population. Preventive strategies are warranted to reduce the future burden of tobacco-related morbidity among these workers.