Awareness about cigarettes and other tobacco products act and impact of health warnings on smokers in a North Indian city
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20195017Keywords:
Awareness, Cigarettes and other tobacco products act, Health and pictorial warnings, SmokersAbstract
Background: Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of morbidity as well as mortality worldwide. To combat the increasing trend of this problem, Government of India formulated the COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) in 2003. The study aimed to assess the awareness about COTPA and impact of pictorial warnings among smokers attending outpatient services in a tertiary care hospital in Jammu.
Method: The present study was conducted among 320 patients attending the outpatient department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu who happened to be cigarette smokers. The questionnaire was developed by authors with the help of literature review and pilot tested before its final use. Information was elicited about demographic details, awareness about COTPA and impact of pictorial warnings on quitting of smoking.
Results: More than half of the respondents were in 30-50-year age group and were urban residents. Awareness about COTPA was good on some parameters but was relatively low on other parameters. Despite all, the respondents noticing pictorial warnings on tobacco packages, only 69.37% of them were contemplating to quit. About half of them were of the view that warning statements preferably be written in local languages.
Conclusion: Health and pictorial warnings on tobacco packages remain an important pillar in filling the gap of knowledge and communicating the health risks of tobacco use to the consumers. Only 69.3% of the respondents were planning to quit and awareness levels about COTPA were mixed.
Metrics
References
Ahsan M, Saad M, Jawed M, Akhtar S, Haseeb A, Bilal M, et al. Impact of tobacco health warnings on smokers in Pakistan. J Pak Med Asocc. 2016;66(1):59-62.
Thejus T, Jayakrishnan T. Pictorial warnings on tobacco products: How delayed and diluted in India? Indian J Med Ethics. 2009;6:105‑6.
World Health Organization. WHO REPORT on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008. The MPOWER Package; 2008. Available at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower. Accessed 22 Dec 2013.
Rekha B, Anjum S. Effectiveness of pictorial warnings on tobacco packs: Hospital‑based study findings from Vikarabad. J Int Soc Prev Commu Dent. 2012;2:13‑9.
Hammond D, Fong GT, McDonald PW, Cameron R, Brown KS. Impact of the graphic Canadian warning labels on adult smoking behaviour. Tob Contr. 2003;12:391‑5.
ITC Project. ITC Thailand Survey Summary. Ontario, Canada: University of Waterloo, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University Salaya and Thai Health Foundation, Thailand 2009.
Hammond D, Fong GT, McDonald PW, Brown KS, Cameron R. Graphic Canadian cigarette warning labels and adverse outcomes: Evidence from Canadian smokers. Am J Public Heal. 2004;94:1442‑5.
Grover V, Malhotra R, Bhatia A. Tobacco/smoking habits, oral health status an awareness about antismoking act in patientsvisiting to National Dental College and Hospital, Gulbgarh, Mohali, Punjab: A cross‑sectional survey. J Ind Assoc Publ Heal Dent. 2009;14(7):122‑34.
Oswal KC, Raute LJ, Pednekar MS, Gupta PC. Are current tobacco pictorial warnings in India effective. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2011;12(1):121-4.
Ravishankar TL, Chandra S, Tirth A, Tandon V, Ain TS. Knowledge, attitude and practice of retail tobacco vendors and school personnel on Indian tobacco control laws (COTPA) in Moradabad City, India. Interna J Contemp Medi Res. 2016;3(11):3365-9.
Rao AR, Dudala SR, Bolla CR, Kumar BP. Knowledge attitude and practices regarding (COTPA) in Khammam, Andhra Pradesh. Intern J Resin Heal Sci. 2013;1:96-102.
Sharma I, Sarma PS, Thankappan KR. Awareness, attitude and perceived barriers regarding implementation of the COTPA in Assam, India. Indi J Cancer. 2010;47(l1):63-6.
Annadurai K, Danasekaran R, Mani G, Knowledge, attitude and practices on anti-tobacco measures imposed under the COTPA among adult males in rural areas of Tamil Nadu, India. Healthc Low-resou Settin. 2014;2:16-18.
Panda B, Rout A, Pati S. Tobacco Control Law Enforcement and Compliance in Odisha, India - Implications for Tobacco Control Policy and Practice. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2012;13:4631-7.
Shetty P, Singh H, Manohar V, Veetil SS, Panakaje MS. Tobacco Control Regulations - Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Tobacco Vendors of Mangalore. J Ora Heal Res. 2012;3:3-6.
Kumar R, Salve H, Misra P. Determinants of tobacco use and perception, attitude about an anti-tobacco act in rural Haryana, North India. Int J Med Publ Heal. 2014;4:367-70.
Talreja K, Rajpurohit L, Thawani P. Effect of Statutory and Pictorial Health Warning among People Consuming Tobacco Products in Pune City, India - A Questionnaire Study. J Commun Heal Managem. 2016;3(2):75-9.
Mangat DS, Mangat HS, Singh K. Impact of pictorial health warning labels on people consuming tobacco products in smoking form. J Adv Med Dent Scie Res. 2017;5(4):48-51.
Shah VR, Dave VR, Sonaliya KN. Impact of anti-tobacco warning labels on behavior of tobacco users in one of the cities of Gujarat, India. J Prev Med Hyg. 2013;54:109-13.
Raina SK. Motivated to Quit: Impact of health warnings depicted on the Tobacco Packets on adults from Sub-Himalayan. J metabol synd. 2019;8(1):245.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
