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Smokers start earlier, few consider quitting, survey shows

The mean age for starting to smoke has fallen from 20.1 years to 16.7 years as per GATS 2 survey

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Smokers in Gujarat are now starting to smoke at a much earlier age, while the number of those considering quitting tobacco has fallen, findings of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) reveal. The survey also reveals that the percentage of tobacco users in the state has declined in the past few years.

The second phase of GATS, which was undertaken in 2016-17, reveals that the mean age at initiation of smoking in Gujarat is 16.7 years. In the first phase of the survey, done in 2009-10, the mean age was 20.1 years, which means more people are now initiating smoking while in their teens.

Incidentally, the mean age for consumption of smokeless tobacco has gone up from 18 years in GATS 1 to 18.9 years in GATS 2, while that of any tobacco use is up from 18.3 years to 18.6 years.

The GATS 2 survey was undertaken in Gujarat by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from August 2016 to February 2017. It covered 1,346 males and 1,385 females above the age of 15. It was part of a national survey which covered over 74,000 people across 30 states and two union territories.

The survey findings show that the number of smokers who attempted to quit smoking or thought about it had declined sharply from the previous survey. In 2009-10, 41.7% of those surveyed had made an attempt to quit smoking in the past 12 months, while in the latest survey, the ratio was 24%. Similarly, from 41.5% in GATS 1, the ratio of smokers who were thinking about quitting fell to 36% in GATS 2. The survey also shows that 48% smokers were advised to quit by a healthcare provider, down from 53.4% earlier.

In the case of smokeless tobacco users – those who consume tobacco in the form of paan, gutka or khaini – the ratio of those who had attempted to quit fell from more than 40% to a little over 25%. However, ratio of smokeless tobacco users who had thought about quitting rose marginally to 46.5% from 46.1% in the previous survey. The ratio of users who were advised to quit also went up from 31.8% to 33.4%, the findings show.

The survey shows that there has been a decline in tobacco users from 29.4% in GATS 1 to 25.1% in GATS 2, and across categories.

Minister of state for health Kishor Kanani, attributed the decline in tobacco consumption in the state to sustained awareness efforts taken by the state government, and steps such as the ban on gutka.

The survey shows that ratio of current tobacco smokers has declined from 11% earlier to 7.7% now, and that of daily tobacco smokers from 9.2% to 6.8%. Similarly, cigarette smokers are down from 2.6% to 1.2%, and bidi smokers from 8.9% to 6.4%.

There has also been decline in smokeless tobacco users, paan users, khaini and oral tobacco application users. However, the ratio of daily smokeless tobacco users has gone up slightly from 16.4% in GATS 1 to 17.1% in GATS 2, while that of current gutka consumers remained steady at 12.8%.

The ratio of dual users, i.e. those consuming tobacco in both smoked and smokeless forms, also declined from 3.2% to 1.8%, the findings show.

Warning labels on packs not deterring many?

Even as the government lays stress on pictorial warnings on tobacco packets, GATS 2 findings show that the labels are leading fewer users to stop consuming tobacco in one form or another.

The government mandated 85% pictorial warnings on packets of tobacco products, including cigarettes and bidis, from April 2016. The idea was that the graphic images would deter people from consuming them.

However, it seems that the labels are not proving to be as effective as expected. As against 50.6% cigarette smokers who thought about quitting because of the warning label on cigarette packets in the first phase of GATS in 2009-10, the number fell drastically to 37.8% in the second phase of the survey in 2016-17.

Similarly, the ratio of bidi smokers who thought about quitting because of the warning label on bidi packets declined from 33.6% to 23.8%.

The survey findings reveal that from 42.4%, the number of smokeless tobacco users who thought about quitting fell to 31.1%.

One of the surprising findings of the GATS 2 is the decline in number of people who believe that smoking causes serious illnesses. The ratio was 89% in GATS 1, but declined to 82.7% in the latest survey. However, number of people who believed use of smokeless tobacco causes serious illness went up from 90.6% to 91.6%.

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