The socioeconomic correlates of substance use among male adults in Northeast India

Abstract

Background: Substance use-defined by the consumption of alcohol, smoking, and smokeless tobacco-has been identified as a serious health hazard in India. Understanding the socioeconomic correlates of substance use in Northeast India (NEI) will provide crucial input for public health policies in this region. Objectives: To examine the socioeconomic correlates of substance consumption among male adults of NEI. Data and methods: We analyzed nationally representative data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-2016. We examined the prevalence and frequency of smoking, using smokeless tobacco products, alcohol consumption, and other substance use among 14,555 men in the 15 to 54-year age group. We carried out binary logistic regressions to investigate the socioeconomic correlates of substance use among male adults in NEI. Results: Substance use was significantly higher among the male adults of NEI than among those from elsewhere in the country (any substance i.e. smoking, smokeless tobacco and alcohol use in India: 50.03% vs. NEI: 70.83%). The frequency of smoking and alcohol consumption is also higher in NEI compared to the rest of the country. In total, there are about 10.2 million substance users, of which 6.7 million are from the state of Assam. About 44.38% of adolescents (aged between 15 and 19) use at least one type of substance. Substance use plateaus in the 25 to 49 age group before beginning to decline among users aged between 50 and 54 years. The likelihood of substance use goes down with increasing education and wealth in NEI. Among social groups, Scheduled Tribe adults have the highest likelihood of using any substance. Conclusion: The intensity of substance consumption in NEI is very high. These unhealthy behaviors are more prevalent among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. This calls for intensive research to better understand the dynamics of substance availability and use in NEI. Furthermore, strong policy measures are needed to reduce substance use among vulnerable groups.

Socioeconomic patterns and determinants of adult mortality due to external-causes in India: Analysis of nationally-representative, population-based survey data

“…The present study reconfirms a similar pattern of disparity by castes and household WQ (Subramanian et al 2006;Po and Subramanian 2011;Saikia and Ram 2010). The mortality disadvantage among adults from deprived castes may be linked to higher prevalence of substance abuse (Saikia and Debbarma 2019), or economic and social discrimination (Banerjee and Knight 1985;Sil &Dhillon, 2017, Ira, Sen andYun, 2012). Previous studies also discussed the advantage of survival of the Muslim population in India.…”

Does substance use by family members and community affect the substance use among adolescent boys? Evidence from UDAYA study, India

“…Moreover, the use of both smokeless and smoked tobacco, alcohol and cannabis (a psychoactive drug) is widely prevalent among the adolescents residing in the Indian slums [11]. Existing studies had linked the substance usage among adolescents with age [12], education [13], poverty [14], migration and occupation exploitation [15], creating cool image among peers [16], working status [17], drug culture [18], socioeconomic correlates [19]. Moreover, substance use among the family members has also emerged to be an important predictor of substance use among adolescents in both developed and developing countries [20,21].…”

Epidemiology, Hot Spots, and Sociodemographic Risk Factors of Alcohol Consumption in Indian Men and Women: Analysis of National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), a Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Study

“…Other than a geospatial study of alcohol use based on 1998's Special Fertility and Mortality Survey (16), very little information is available on the statistically significant hot spot clusters of alcohol consumption at the district level in India. Even though earlier studies have reported the socioeconomic determinants of co-use of alcohol and tobacco, and substance use among North-East (NE) men (17,18), the sociodemographic risk factors of alcohol use in Indian men (or women) have not been studied. The data from NFHS-4 were used for Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial statistics to map the major alcohol hot spots in India.…”