Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Write up in Hindu on tobacco study

Bangalore: The findings of a study, conducted by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore, this year, shows that over 50 per cent of pre-university (PU) students pursuing courses in arts and humanities are smokers.
The rules and advertisements to discourage the use of tobacco products by the youth have had no impact on students in Bangalore.
The study revealed that 58.9 per cent of students of arts and humanities, followed by 30.6 per cent and 10.6 per cent students of science and commerce streams, respectively, use tobacco products.
The study was conducted in two stages in Bangalore’s 19 PU colleges on 1,087 students of first year PU (53 per cent) and second year PU (47 per cent). At least 18 colleges had one or more tobacco selling points within 100 yards of their campus. The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2005 prohibits sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution. As much as 55.8 per cent of students said that peer pressure had influenced them to use tobacco products.
More than 30 per cent said their teachers were smokers, while 31.74 per cent said that at least one parent used tobacco products. Cinema influence
As much as 18 per cent felt the need to smoke or consume tobacco when they saw film stars smoking or chewing gutka in films, IPH’s Upendra Bhojani, who conducted the study under the guidance of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, told The Hindu.
Click below to view the link: http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/18/stories/2009021855881000.htm

1 comment:

Footprints....on the trail.. said...

No doubt the results of this study can make a another study to look into attributable risk related to smoking. The apparent improvement in economy (DALY saved)will be shadowed by the direct monetary benefits by selling cigarettes but the inherent loss can be clearly shown with the extension of the same study. (cohort/prospective study with the same sample)
Thank you