Prevalence of Tobacco Dependence and Problem Drinking Among Workers in a Tea Plantation in South India
Keywords:
Alcohol, Dependence, plantation worker, tobacco, consumptionAbstract
Introduction: The use of tobacco and alcohol is increasing in developing countries like India. There is an urgent need to understand about these health risk behaviours among vulnerable population like plantation workers. The objective of the study was to screen the tea plantation workers for tobacco dependence and problem drinking
Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted between January and March, 2013 and included 315 workers. The study tools were CAGE (Cut Down, Annoyed, Guilty and Eye Opener), AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and FTND (Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence).
Results: The prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use was 40% and 7.3% respectively. As assessed by FTND, 52.90% and 47.1% were in the low and medium risk categories for tobacco dependence. Age, gender, educational status and duration of work in plantation were found to be associated with tobacco use. Among alcohol users, 8.69% screened positive for problem drinking and 34.8 % had a greater likelihood of harmful drinking.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Given the rising trend of Non-Communicable diseases in India, modifiable risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use which were high in this study group need to be controlled.
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