RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prevalence, pattern and sociodemographic differentials in smokeless tobacco consumption in Bangladesh: evidence from a population-based cross-sectional study in Chakaria
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e012765
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012765
VO 7
IS 1
A1 Mohammad Nahid Mia
A1 S M A Hanifi
A1 M Shafiqur Rahman
A1 Amena Sultana
A1 Shahidul Hoque
A1 Abbas Bhuiya
YR 2017
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e012765.abstract
AB Background The health hazards associated with the use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) are similar to those of smoking. However, unlike smoking, limited initiatives have been taken to control the use of SLT, despite its widespread use in South and Southeast Asian countries including Bangladesh. It is therefore important to examine the prevalence of SLT use and its social determinants for designing appropriate strategies and programmes to control its use.Objective To investigate the use of SLT in terms of prevalence, pattern and sociodemographic differentials in a rural area of Bangladesh.Design Population-based cross-sectional household survey.Setting and participants A total of 6178 individuals aged ≥13 years from 1753 households under the Chakaria HDSS area were interviewed during October–November 2011.Methods The current use of SLT, namely sadapatha (dried tobacco leaves) and zarda (industrially processed leaves), was used as the outcome variable. The crude and net associations between the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents and the outcome variables were examined using cross-tabular and multivariable logistic regression analysis, respectively.Results 23% of the total respondents (men: 27.0%, women: 19.3%) used any form of SLT. Of the respondents, 10.4% used only sadapatha,13.6% used only zarda and 2.2% used both. SLT use was significantly higher among men, older people, illiterate, ever married, day labourers and relatively poorer respondents. The odds of being a sadapatha user were 3.5-fold greater for women than for men and the odds of being a zarda user were 3.6-fold greater for men than for women.Conclusions The prevalence of SLT use was high in the study area and was higher among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. The limitation of the existing regulatory measures for controlling the use of non-industrial SLT products should be understood and discussion for developing new strategies should be a priority.