CHANDIGARH: A large number of patients undergoing treatment at non-communicable disease (NCD) clinics in Punjab have been found consuming tobacco in the first comprehensive facility based study carried out in the state by a team of researchers from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and Punjab health department.
Higher tobacco use among the NCD clinic attendees with increasing age exposes them to the risk of developing grave complications and multiple co-morbidities. Experts have laid stress on the need to bring in intensive behaviour change interventions for tobacco cessation at the NCD clinics across the state.
NCD cells and NCD clinics are located in each district of Punjab and the study was conducted at two clinics – Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib – in which as many as 1,172 patients aged 30 years and above participated. The analysis reveals that10.2% of the participants reported tobacco use with 50% of them consuming smokeless tobacco (SLT), 45% were smokers while 5% used tobacco in both forms.
Of the total, 54.5% of smokers were reported in the age group of 50-59 years age group while as high as 52.3% of SLT and 28.5% of dual users were reported in the age bracket of 40-49 years.
Little over 19% of the smokers had a frequency of smoking with more than 10 times per day, while 22.5% of SLT users consumed tobacco products one to five times per day. Among both the groups, 38.3% of smokers and 44.1% of SLT users reported peer pressure for starting consuming tobacco.
As many as 41.6% of participants using tobacco had hypertension, 26.6% were suffering from diabetes mellitus while 20% were undergoing treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 10% had co-morbid conditions.
The researchers stressed that there is a need to take steps to ensure strong behaviour change strategies in higher age group bracket to reduce the toll due to risk factors. They also called for the introduction of intensive behaviour change interventions for tobacco cessation.
Such interventions should be customised according to the need of patients and should be strengthened through capacity building of existing manpower at the NCD clinics.
