Every 6th smoker in UP quitting the habit

Anti-tobacco activists have a reason to smile with a steady increase in the number of men giving up smoking. A study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that at least one out of six smokers in UP is quitting the habit.

Published in the current issue of BMJ Global health, the study has evaluated `Trends in beedi and cigarette smoking in India from 1998 to 2015 by age gender and education'. The section on `Ex-smokers' rate in India among men (45-59 years) from 2004-2010', researchers headed by Sujata Mishra of Centre for Global Health Research at St Michael's hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, have shown that ratio between smokers and ex-smokers in Uttar Pradesh stands at 6: 1.5.

There are an estimated 40 lakh smokers in Uttar Pradesh at present. Research also showed that only 1.1% smokers quit in 2004 but prevalence of ex-smokers increased to 5.9% by 2010 and is now over 6. Over 6.9 crore men in India smoke.

Despite the slight increase in the number of people who have given up smoking, research points out that smoking cessation remains uncommon in India when compared to other high income countries including USA.

“There are now as many ex-smokers as smokers. Countries which adopted tobacco control earlier (including through tax increases) now have substantially higher prevalence of quitting,“ the research noted, calling for increase in cessation activities.

Anti-Tobacco activist Bobby Ramakant said smokers quit only when they see its ills from close quarters.“Different surveys suggest that people quit either on seeing a close relative suffer with diseases like cancer, COPD or cardiac ailments or because they have faced trouble themselves and were lucky to have survived,“ he said.

Doctors at cessation clinic King George's Medical University said number of people wanting to quit had gone up in the past decade. “The clinic began with just 10-odd patients per month but attends to at least 50 cases now,“ a medical officer said.

ENT oncosurgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi stated that taxation and sensitisation were the best way to convince people to quit. “Both ways are possible and governments must adopt them in public interest as tobacco related cancers cause 10 lakh deaths in India annually ,“ he said.

Researchers studied Special Fertility and Mortality Survey (1998) and Sample Registration System Base Line Survey (2004) and Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2010) to draw their conclusions.