A community-based cross-sectional study on the knowledge of harmful effects of tobacco consumption and tobacco control laws among male youths in a resettlement colony of Delhi

Abstract

Introduction: In India, like in other developing countries, the most susceptible time for the initiation of tobacco is during youth, i.e., in the age group of 15-24 years. Therefore, the current study was conducted with an objective to assess the knowledge of harmful effects of tobacco consumption and tobacco control laws among male youths in a resettlement colony of Delhi. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2010-2011 in Kalyanpuri, a resettlement colony in Delhi, India. The study included males aged 15-24 years residing in the study area at the time of survey. A semi-structured interview schedule was designed in Hindi to elicit the information on tobacco use, knowledge about its harmful effects, and tobacco control laws. Data were collected from 811 youths using systematic random sampling methods. Results: Current tobacco users were significantly (P < 0.05) more aware about the harmful effects of tobacco, i.e., weakness (30.7% users vs. 18.7% nonusers), addiction (12.9% users vs. 7.5% nonusers), and asthma (16.0% users vs. 39% nonuser) as compared to tobacco nonusers. Current tobacco users were also more aware about all tobacco control laws, i.e., health warning written on packets (97.8 users vs. 93.5% nonusers), tobacco could not be sold to <18 years of age (67.1% users vs. 32.3% nonusers), smoking is banned in public places (57.8% users vs. 19.7% nonusers), tobacco should be sold 100 yards away from schools (9.8% users vs. 1.8% nonusers), and pictorial health warnings on packets as compared to tobacco nonusers (4.9% users vs. 1.6% nonusers). All these results were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Most current users were having more knowledge about most of the harmful effects of tobacco on health as compared to nonusers. Likewise, current tobacco users were more aware about tobacco control laws as compared to nonusers.