Abstract:
To determine the frequency of tobacco use and to asses the health hazards of tobacco use in male teaching and non-teaching staff of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro, Sindh - Pakistan. Design: This aescriptive cross sectional survey was conducted from 15th July to 14th December 2005. Subjects and Methods: One hundred forty nine staff members beionging to) nan teaching cadres were selected for study through systematic random selection by the use of standardized formula. Informed consent was taken and data were gathered on a questionnaire containing variables regarding demography, use of tobacco, form of tobacco and health related problems due to use of tobacco. Female staff members were excluded from the study. All the data were analyzed by software program SPSS 11.0. Results: One hundred forty-nine staff members were interviewed. Frequency of tobacco use was 55(37%). Among them, 33 (60%) subjects were cigarette smokers, 06(11%) had habit of chewing paan/chaalia mixed with tobacco, 11 (20%) were taking naswar while 03 (5.45%) and 02 (3.6%) were using gutka and mainpuri respectively. The most frequent reason for use of tobacco was friends/company in 37(67.27%) subjects. Out of fifty-five tobacco users, 36 (65.45%) had some health related problem. The most frequent reported complaints were teeth staining in 24(66%) subjects while cough with sputum in 06(16.6%) cases. Other problems were GERD in 03(8.3%) and gum ulcers in 02(5.5%) subjects respectively. Conclusion: This study concludes that high proportion of staff working at LUMHS consumes tobacco. The frequent pattern of tobacco use is cigarette smoking and heath related problems are common in the users of tobacco.
Page(s):
19-23
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Isra Medical Journal, Volume: 1, Issue: 1, Year: 2009