title: Tobacco use and its impact on pulmonary health among elderly population in rural area of Muzaffarnagar - A cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The tobacco use is significant in Indian rural population. Among them, elderly people in rural area are at special risk due to ageing and other factors. The impact of tobacco use on elderly health, therefore, needs to be studied in depth in rural context.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the patterns of tobacco use and its consequent impact on pulmonary health of the elderly.
  
  
  METHODS
  A community-based cross-sectional study was done (April 1st to September 30th, 2014) in the field practice area (village Bilaspur) of Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC) of Muzaffarnagar Medical College, Muzaffarnagar. A simple random sampling was used and elderly of 60 years and above were interviewed by semi-structured interview schedule. The data were analyzed by software Epi-info. version 7.1.3.3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of tobacco usage among elderly was 56.7%, in which smoking was the dominant one (37%) and majority being in the form of Bidi (56.7%). Tobacco usage was significantly associated not only with age, sex, and caste (p<0.05 each), but occupational and socio-economic status (p<0.01 each) also; however, literacy was the most significant factor (p<0.0001) among all. The tobacco usage in smoking form was highly significantly associated with the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p<0.0001), elucidating a significant impact on their pulmonary health. The rural elderly people need health education regarding curtailing the use of tobacco for their better health from health clinics.
authors.affiliation: Assistant/Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar 251203, Uttar Pradesh, India. Electronic address: Sanjeevdavey333@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.affiliation: Professor & HOD, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar 251203, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Jai Vir
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Lecturer cum Statistician, Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar 251203, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Santosh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Raghav
authors.affiliation: Professor & HOD, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar 251203, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Khursheed
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muzammil
authors.affiliation: PG 1st Year Student, Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar 251203, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shankar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012907:Smoking; D064424:Tobacco Use / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends
keywords: COPD; Elderly; Pulmonary health; Smoked tobacco; Smokeless tobacco