Tobacco use habits and beliefs among undergraduate medical and nursing students of two cities in southern India.

BACKGROUND

Unless effective tobacco control is in place, most tobacco-related deaths in the coming decades are likely to be seen in low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco surveillance among medical students offers an opportunity to assess the preparedness for tobacco control among future healthcare professionals in India.

METHODS

We did a cross-sectional survey in two cities (Bangalore and Coimbatore) of India. The participants were third year undergraduate students from 7 medical colleges and 6 nursing colleges. A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on tobacco use, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, knowledge on disease burden and attitudes towards tobacco control.

RESULTS

Overall, 829 of 985 eligible students (84.1%) participated in the survey. About 14.5% (95% CI 12.0-17.0) of students had ever used tobacco. Current tobacco use was reported by 1.6% (95% CI 0.8-2.4) of students; 1.5% (95% CL 0.7-2.3) were current smokers and 0.4% (95% CI 0.1-0.7) were current chewers. The rates of smoking among male medical, female medical and female nursing students were 4.0%, 0.3% and 0%, respectively (p < 0.001). About 1 in 6 students reported frequent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke within their homes and over 1 in 4 reported frequent exposure outside the home environment. Median knowledge score on tobacco-related burden was 5/10. More than 80% favoured ban on tobacco sales to adolescents, tobacco advertising and tobacco use in public places. Over 90% reported interest in further training in tobacco control.

CONCLUSION

This scenario of comparatively low levels of tobacco use, positive attitudes towards tobacco control and suboptimal levels of knowledge coupled with a high interest in having further knowledge on tobacco control points to the need for a comprehensive curriculum for training in tobacco control that meets national requirements.