Consumption of tobacco, alcohol and betel leaf amongst school children in Delhi
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《美国医学杂志》
Department of Human Nutrition,All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, India
The consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other addictive substances amongst adolescents continue to occupy a premier position among public health concerns. It is estimated that 250 million children and adolescents who are alive today would die prematurely beacuse of consumprtion of tobacco, most of them in the developing countries.[1] In the National Family Health Survey-2, the prevalence of consumption of tobacco, alcohol and smoking was reported to be 4.1%, 0.9% and 1.8%, respectively amongst children 15-19 years of age.[2] No data is available on the prevalence of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and betel leaf amongst adolescent school children in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. Hence, the present cross-sectional study amongst children in the age group of 10-18 years in the NCT of Delhi in 2003 was undertaken.
The sample size for the present study was calculated keeping in mind the least prevalence of consumption of tobacco and alcohol as 6% and 15% respectively, and considering a relative precision of 15% and confidence interval of 95%, the minimum sample size calculated was 2300.[3] All the middle and senior secondary schools in NCT of Delhi were enlisted and were stratified into low income, high income and middle income depending on their school tuition fees. Two schools were randomly selected in each income group for the detailed study keeping in view the operational feasibility. The informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from the school authorities and the children. In each school, all the children between the age group of 10-18 years were included and briefed about the objectives of the study. The children were requested to provide authentic information and were assured that all information would be kept confidential. Twenty children were collected in a separate class room. A pre-tested questionnaire was given to each child for self-administration. The children were explained by the research team members how to fill up the questionnaire. The minimum interaction amongst the students was ensured as done during the annual examination setting. A questionnaire in Hindi was provided to children belonging to low income group schools and questionnaire in English was provided to children belonging to middle and high income group schools.
A total of 2,387 children were included in the present study. Sixty five percent of the children were in the age group of 10-14 years, of which majority were males (73.4%). Similarly, 35% of the children were in the age group of 15-18 years, of which 81.1% were males and 18.9% were females. The overall prevalence of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and betel leaf was reported to be 13.4 % amongst the adolescent subjects. There was a significantly higher consumption of these substances in males (9.7%) as compared to females (8.9%). The problem of abuse of tobacco, alcohol and betel leaf was more in late adolescence (54.8%) as compared to early adolescence (45.2%). The sex-wise distribution of prevalence of consumption of addictive substances by the study subjects is depicted in table1. The most commonly consumed addictive substance was betel leaf (10.2%), followed by tobacco (1.9%) and alcohol (1.5%). The results of the study revealed that curiosity, enjoyment and easy availability were major factors that initiated the consumption of these substances amongst students. Nearly 52% of the subjects were first introduced to these substances by their friends and relatives. It was found that the mean age of initiation of consumption of tobacco, betel leaf and alcohol was 8, 10 and 13 years, respectively. The consumption of betel leaf and tobacco was more in children belonging to low and middle income group families, whereas the consumption of alcohol was more in children belonging to high income group families. The results of the present study indicate that consumption of tobacco, alcohol and betel leaf is an emerging public health problem and there is a need of undertaking multicentric studies to objectively develop the baseline data on the magnitude of the problem so that proper interventional strategies can be developed.
References
1. Peto R. Developing populations: the future health effects of current smoking patterns. In Mortality from smoking in developed countries, 1950-2000. U.K.; Oxford University Press, 1994: A101-103.
2. NFHS (2000) India 1998-1999- National Family Health Survey-2 (NFHS-2). Background characteristics of Households. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai 2000; 30.
3. Mohan D. Chopra A, Sethi H. A Rapid assessment study on prevalence of substance abuse disorders in metropolis Delhi. Indian J Med Res 2001; 114: 107-144.(Kapil Umesh, Goindi Geeta)
The consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other addictive substances amongst adolescents continue to occupy a premier position among public health concerns. It is estimated that 250 million children and adolescents who are alive today would die prematurely beacuse of consumprtion of tobacco, most of them in the developing countries.[1] In the National Family Health Survey-2, the prevalence of consumption of tobacco, alcohol and smoking was reported to be 4.1%, 0.9% and 1.8%, respectively amongst children 15-19 years of age.[2] No data is available on the prevalence of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and betel leaf amongst adolescent school children in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. Hence, the present cross-sectional study amongst children in the age group of 10-18 years in the NCT of Delhi in 2003 was undertaken.
The sample size for the present study was calculated keeping in mind the least prevalence of consumption of tobacco and alcohol as 6% and 15% respectively, and considering a relative precision of 15% and confidence interval of 95%, the minimum sample size calculated was 2300.[3] All the middle and senior secondary schools in NCT of Delhi were enlisted and were stratified into low income, high income and middle income depending on their school tuition fees. Two schools were randomly selected in each income group for the detailed study keeping in view the operational feasibility. The informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from the school authorities and the children. In each school, all the children between the age group of 10-18 years were included and briefed about the objectives of the study. The children were requested to provide authentic information and were assured that all information would be kept confidential. Twenty children were collected in a separate class room. A pre-tested questionnaire was given to each child for self-administration. The children were explained by the research team members how to fill up the questionnaire. The minimum interaction amongst the students was ensured as done during the annual examination setting. A questionnaire in Hindi was provided to children belonging to low income group schools and questionnaire in English was provided to children belonging to middle and high income group schools.
A total of 2,387 children were included in the present study. Sixty five percent of the children were in the age group of 10-14 years, of which majority were males (73.4%). Similarly, 35% of the children were in the age group of 15-18 years, of which 81.1% were males and 18.9% were females. The overall prevalence of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and betel leaf was reported to be 13.4 % amongst the adolescent subjects. There was a significantly higher consumption of these substances in males (9.7%) as compared to females (8.9%). The problem of abuse of tobacco, alcohol and betel leaf was more in late adolescence (54.8%) as compared to early adolescence (45.2%). The sex-wise distribution of prevalence of consumption of addictive substances by the study subjects is depicted in table1. The most commonly consumed addictive substance was betel leaf (10.2%), followed by tobacco (1.9%) and alcohol (1.5%). The results of the study revealed that curiosity, enjoyment and easy availability were major factors that initiated the consumption of these substances amongst students. Nearly 52% of the subjects were first introduced to these substances by their friends and relatives. It was found that the mean age of initiation of consumption of tobacco, betel leaf and alcohol was 8, 10 and 13 years, respectively. The consumption of betel leaf and tobacco was more in children belonging to low and middle income group families, whereas the consumption of alcohol was more in children belonging to high income group families. The results of the present study indicate that consumption of tobacco, alcohol and betel leaf is an emerging public health problem and there is a need of undertaking multicentric studies to objectively develop the baseline data on the magnitude of the problem so that proper interventional strategies can be developed.
References
1. Peto R. Developing populations: the future health effects of current smoking patterns. In Mortality from smoking in developed countries, 1950-2000. U.K.; Oxford University Press, 1994: A101-103.
2. NFHS (2000) India 1998-1999- National Family Health Survey-2 (NFHS-2). Background characteristics of Households. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai 2000; 30.
3. Mohan D. Chopra A, Sethi H. A Rapid assessment study on prevalence of substance abuse disorders in metropolis Delhi. Indian J Med Res 2001; 114: 107-144.(Kapil Umesh, Goindi Geeta)