Impact on patterns of tobacco and its initiation among children of conflict area in Jammu and Kashmir (India): a school based study

摘要

BackgroundSchoolgoing children are becoming target of Tobacco Industry and is a serious issuein disturbed areas of India particularly Kashmir. The early age of initiationunderscores the urgent need to intervene and protect this vulnerable group fromfalling prey to this addiction. The present study was thus undertaken to assessthe prevalence of tobacco habits (Patterns) among school children, determinethe age & major reasons of initiation of these habits, and compare the ageof initiation between students who were more than 15 and ≤ 18 yr of age.MethodsThrough cluster and randomsampling method, private and government schools of Kashmir valley (10Districts) of Jammu and Kashmir were identified for the study. In identifiedschools a structured questionnaire was administered among students of class 7to 12 (aged 11-19 yr). The data entry was done in further descriptive andexploratory data analysis was done manually.ResultsItis found that 18.4% students; 375 (14.1%) were 'ever smokers (including currentsmokers), 111(4.1%) were 'ever tobacco chewers (including current chewers)',(11.94%) were 'exclusive smokers' and (3.5%) were 'exclusive tobacco chewers'.512 (19.3%) children belong to families affected by unrest and sufferedeconomic loss from last 3 years. The mean age of initiation of these habits wasaround 10.4 year. Nearly 75 % of boys and 6% of girls ≤ 15 yr initiated thehabit of tobacco before the age of 12yr.ConclusionsThe study concludes that Tobacco use in Kashmir (State J&K) among childrenis higher than the national average, the conflict in the region may be the oneof main reason behind it. It also highlight the alarming fact that ageinitiation among these areas is much lower than the state average. Customized policyintervention is required to control the tobacco use among children in conflictarea.