A Study to assess the Prevalence of Tobacco use among Class Fourth Workers of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University Karad, Maharashtra, India

Tobacco use is a major public health problem globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco is the second most important cause of death in the world. In India, it is responsible for over 8 lakh deaths every year. Aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of tobacco use among class fourth workers of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University Karad. A descriptive survey was carried out with sample size of 300 by purposive sampling technique. Structured Interview Schedule was used to assess the prevalence of tobacco use. The majority of samples were males 187 (62.33%) & belongs to Hindu religion 237 (79%). The study, reveals that 51% of the total class forth worker's in Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University Karad have experienced with at least any one kind of tobacco. Among all samples cigarette smoking was found 29 (9.67%), Beedi smoking was found with 22 (7.33%) and chewing tobacco was seen among 102 (34%) samples. Sex, Socioeconomic status and diet was highly significant with tobacco use. This study recommends that the need of health education regarding ill effect of tobacco is more important and the study can be conducted to find the prevalence of disease associated with tobacco use.