Are socioeconomic disparities in tobacco consumption increasing in India? A repeated cross-sectional multilevel analysis

View/ Open
Author
Srivastava, Swati
Agrawal, Sutapa
Subramanyam, Malavika
Millett, Christopher
Selvaraj, Sakthivel
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001348Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Bhan, Nandita, Swati Srivastava, Sutapa Agrawal, Malavika Subramanyam, Christopher Millett, Sakthivel Selvaraj, and S V Subramanian. 2012. Are socioeconomic disparities in tobacco consumption increasing in India? A repeated cross-sectional multilevel analysis. BMJ Open 2(5): e001348.Abstract
Objectives: India bears a significant portion of the global tobacco burden with high prevalence of tobacco use. This study examines the socioeconomic patterning of tobacco use and identifies the changing gender and socioeconomic dynamics in light of the Cigarette Epidemic Model. Design: Secondary analyses of second and third National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data. Setting and participants: Data were analysed from 201 219 men and 255 028 women over two survey rounds. Outcomes and methods: Outcomes included smoking (cigarettes, bidis and pipes/cigar), chewed tobacco (paan masala, gutkha and others) and dual use, examined by education, wealth, living environment and caste. Standardised prevalence and percentage change were estimated. Pooled multilevel models estimated the effect of socioeconomic covariates on the log odds of tobacco use by gender, along with fixed and random parameters. Findings: Among men (2005−2006), gradients in smoking by education (illiterates: 44% vs postgraduates: 15%) and chewing (illiterates: 47% vs postgraduates: 19%) were observed. Inverse gradients were also observed by wealth, living environment and caste. Chewed tobacco use by women showed inverse socioeconomic status (SES) gradients comparing the illiterates (7.4%) versus postgraduates (0.33%), and poorest (17%) versus richest (2%) quintiles. However, proportional increases in smoking were higher among more educated (postgraduates (98%) vs high schooling only (17%)) and chewing among richer (richest quintile (49%) vs poorest quintile (35%)). Among women, higher educated showed larger declines for smoking—90% (postgraduates) versus 12% (illiterates). Younger men (15–24 years) showed increasing tobacco use (smoking: 123% and chewing: 112%). Older women (35–49 years) show higher prevalence of smoking (3.2%) compared to younger women (0.3%). Conclusions: Indian tobacco use patterns show significant diversions from the Cigarette Epidemic Model—from gender and socioeconomic perspectives. Separate analysis by type is needed to further understand social determinants of tobacco use in India.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488713/pdf/Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:10579572
Collections
- SPH Scholarly Articles [6320]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)