title: High prevalence of tobacco use, alcohol use and overweight in a rural population in Tamil Nadu, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in India. There is high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in urban Tamil Nadu. There are limited data on the prevalence of behavioral risk factors and overweight in rural Tamil Nadu.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We estimated prevalence of behavioral risk factors, overweight and central obesity in a rural population in Tamil Nadu, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 11 villages in Kancheepuram/Thiruvallur districts, Tamil Nadu.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study population included 10,500 subjects aged 25-64 years. We collected data on behavioral risk factors and anthropometric measurements. Body mass index (BMI) was categorized using the classification recommended for Asians. Central obesity was defined as waist circumference ≥90 cm for men and ≥80 cm for women. We computed proportions for all risk factors and used trend chi-square to examine trend.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 10,500 subjects, 4927 (47%) were males. Among males, 1852 (37.6%) were current smokers and 3073 (62.4%) were current alcohol users. Among females, 840 (15.1%) were smokeless tobacco users. BMI was ≥23.0 kg/m 2 for 1618 (32.8%) males and 2126 (38.2%) females. 867 (17.6%) males and 1323 (23.7%) females were centrally obese. Most commonly used edible oil was palm oil followed by sunflower oil and groundnut oil.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed high prevalence of tobacco use, alcohol use and central obesity in the rural population in Tamil Nadu. There is need for health promotion programs to encourage adoption of healthy lifestyle and policy interventions to create enabling environment.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Epidemiology, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ayapakkam, Chennai, India. kprabhdeep@gmail.com
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramachandran
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Venkatachalam
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Gupte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*