Have Socioeconomic Inequalities in Tobacco Use in India Increased Over Time? Trends From the National Sample Surveys (2000-2012)

Conclusion: Marked SES patterning of tobacco use has persisted in India. Improving enforcement of tobacco control policies and monitoring comprehensive smoke-free legislations are needed to address this growing burden. Implications: We found "resilient" tobacco patterns in the last decade despite prevention interventions. SES continues to be inversely associated with tobacco products, with the exception of cigarettes. The declines in bidi use may be getting replaced by increase in cigarette use trends, especially among lower SES groups. The use of smokeless tobacco products has increased across all SES groups and the volume of smokeless tobacco use is not been declining despite a number of policies on tobacco use. This may be attributed to inadequate attention to chewed forms of tobacco in current policies, particularly to implementing pictoral warnings and regulating surrogate advertising. Evaluating the implementation of anti-tobacco policies and ensuring equity dimensions in interventions is urgently needed to address tobacco use inequalities.
Source: Nicotine and Tobacco Research - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Original Investigation Source Type: research