A Cross-Country Comparison of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices about Tobacco Use: Findings from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey

Abstract

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 15 (12), 5035-5042 IntroductionTobacco use remains responsible for being one of the largest contributors to premature death, causing millions of deaths worldwide every year (World Health Organization, 2002;Thun et al., 2010). Both smoked and smokeless, forms of tobacco are associated with increased risk of chronic and terminal diseases (Critchley et al., 2003;Gupta et al., 2003;Nair et al., 2004;Krishna et al., 2013). These diseases include destructive periodontitis (Cutress, 2003;Gupta et al., 2003;; oral and oropharyngeal cancers (Johnson et al., 2011;Radoi et al.;2013); oral potentially malignant disorders, notably leukoplakia, erythroplakia, and oral submucous fibrosis (Warnakulasuriya et al., 2007) and cardiovascular disorders including stroke . Other significant health disorders associated with tobacco consumption include erectile dysfunction (Wang et al., 2013) and problems in pregnancy, including stillbirth and low birth weight babies (Wisborg et al., 2001;England et al., 2010

Tobacco Use, Beliefs and Risk Awareness in University Students from 24 Low, Middle and Emerging Economy Countries

“…This association with health beliefs can be utilized in tobacco use prevention or cessation programmes. The high awareness about the harmful effects of smoking tobacco in terms of lung cancer (>85% in most countries), while there was relatively low awareness of smoking tobacco with heart disease corresponds to findings from previous studies (Steptoe et al, 2002;Gupta and Kumar, 2014). The relationship between tobacco use and the risk awareness of specific health effects (lung cancer and heart disease) was less consistent.…”

“…In other university student populations in low and middle income countries, current tobacco use or smoking was 9% in Egypt (El Ansari et al, 2012), 33% in India (Mehrotra et al, 2010), 19.8% of male and 2.2% of female students in Iran (Moosazadeh et al, 2013), 14.7% in Malaysia (Saravanan and Heidhy, 2014), 5.7% (males 7.7%, females 2.0%) in Nigeria (Fawibe and Shittu, 2011), among male 24% in Pakistan (Rozi et al, 2007) Poor risk awareness and beliefs about the negative effects of tobacco use may influence the level of consumption of tobacco in different population groups, including young adults (Steptoe et al, 2002;Merdad et al, 2007;Gupta and Kumar, 2014). Several studies among youth found relatively high awareness that smoking tobacco causes serious illness (>90% in 12 of 14 countries) (Gupta and Kumar, 2014). Among South African university students, awareness of the link between smoking and lung cancer was high (93%), but awareness of the role of smoking in heart disease was low (16%) (Peltzer, 2001).…”

Role of Tobacco Warning Labels in Informing Smokers about Risks of Smoking among Bus Drivers in Mangalore, India

“…However a previous study (Reddy et al, 1996) reported a lower knowledge (58%) and other study (Gupta and Kumar, 2014) reported a higher knowledge (87.2%) regarding health effects associating smoking to lung cancer.…”

Tobacco smoking in Poland in 2003–2014. Multi-centre National Population Health Examination Survey (WOBASZ)

“…Secondly, contrary to the general belief, the population lacks sufficient knowledge on the topic of health consequences of tobacco use. 49 Moreover, doctors have inadequate training to provide counseling and treat addiction related to tobacco smoking. They lack the time, and the procedures are not the population of 15 years of age and older, e -cigarettes are used by 20.3% (in Poland 31%) of smokers, most often among the young (15-24 years).…”