title: A community based smoking cessation intervention trial for rural Kerala, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An attempt was made to compare tobacco prevalence and socioeconomic factors of two groups (intervention and control) from a selected rural community in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from resident males in the age group of 18.0 to 60.0 years from 4 randomly allocated Community Development Blocks of rural Thiruvananthapuram district (2 intervention and control groups). Trained Accredited Social Health Activists workers were utilised to collect data from both the groups through a face to face interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 3304 subjects were interviewed, the overall prevalence of smokers was 28% (n=928) (mean age=44.4 years, SD=9.2 years). Socio-economic status (SES) score points indicated that majority of smokers belonged to the upper lower SES category (61%) (mean SES score =10, SD= 3) and among non-smokers, the participants mainly belonged to the lower middle SES score (45%) (mean SES score =12, SD= 3) (p-value=0.0001). Among the 928 smokers, 474 subjects were in the intervention area (mean age =44.56 years, SD =9.66 years) and 454 in the control area (mean age= 44.47 years, SD =10.30 years). No significant difference was found between the intervention and control groups according to age (p=0.89) and SES (p=0.11). Majority of smokers in the intervention and control areas were from the upper lower SES group (64.14% and 57.17%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Smoking continues to be a predominant public health problem among males in rural Kerala particularly among lower socio-economic population. Apart from strengthening legislation, multiple cost effective intervention approaches are required to reduce tobacco consumption in the community.
authors.affiliation: Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. jaykrishnan999@gmail.com
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jayakrishnan
authors.forename: Aleyamma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uutela
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Finne
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult