Abstract Background: Globally, tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats. It is one of the major causes of preventable morbidity and mortality in India and accounts for nearly 1.35 million deaths every year. Patterns of tobacco use in India are myriad which include smoking as well as smokeless tobacco. Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify and compare the regional trends and patterns of tobacco consumption across Indian states over the last three National Family Health Survey (NFHS) rounds. Materials and Methods: Data from the 2019–2020, NFHS-5, 2015–2016, NFHS-4, and 2005–2006, NFHS-3, were collated with variables describing tobacco usage. The raw data were cleaned, sorted, and entered into Microsoft Excel version 2019 to carry out descriptive analysis. Results: The overall prevalence of smoked tobacco has increased in NFHS-5 as compared to NFHS-4, while there was a reduction in tobacco use in NFHS-4 in comparison to NFHS-3. Smokeless tobacco has shown increasing trends among women but decreasing trends among men. Comparison of tobacco use among Indian states depicts high tobacco use among north-eastern states among both the genders. Conclusion: The north-eastern region requires the consideration of sociocultural norms and demographic aspects of tobacco consumption patterns to develop effective evidence-based health policies and programs.
Sharma et al. (Thu,) studied this question.