Tobacco use and its clinical correlates among Psychiatric in-patients at a tertiary care Psychiatric Hospital: A cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Prevalence of tobacco use is variable among psychiatric illness across the world. Tobacco consumption may predispose or worsen the psychiatric illnesses. Aims: To study the prevalence of tobacco use among psychiatric in-patients and to study the association between various sociodemographic variables and clinical variables with tobacco use. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among psychiatric in-patients (n=200) at a tertiary care psychiatric hospital. Consecutive sampling technique was applied. A semi-structured proforma was applied to capture the socio-demographic and clinical details of the participants. The Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) was applied to assess for the tobacco dependence. Results: Prevalence of current tobacco use among the study population was 39.5%. Among the psychiatric illness, prevalence of tobacco use is significantly higher in substance use disorders when compared with mood disorders (χ2=7.757, p=0.005) and schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders (χ2=24.093, p<0.01). Tobacco use is significantly associated with male gender (χ2=20.820, p<0.01), employment (χ2=7.860, p= 0.005) and marital status (χ2=7.930, p= 0.019) among psychiatric patients. Conclusion: Prevalence of tobacco use was found to be high among psychiatric population. There is a need to focus on the adequate management of tobacco use along with primary psychiatric conditions.