title: Household Expenditure on Tobacco Consumption in a Poverty-Stricken Rural District in Sri Lanka.
abstract: Tobacco is a determinant of poverty and a barrier for development. Monaragala, a rural, agricultural district, reports the highest poverty-related indicators in southern Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was used to describe the household expenditure on tobacco and its association with food- and education-related expenditures at household level. This study used a 4-stage cluster sampling method to recruit a representative sample of 1160 households. Response rate was 98.6%. Median monthly household income was LKR 20 000 (interquartile range [IQR] = LKR 12 000-30 000). The median monthly expenditure on tobacco was LKR 1000 (IQR = LKR 400-2000) with the highest spending tertile reporting a median of LKR 2700 (IQR = LKR 2000-3600).The proportionate expenditure from the monthly income ranged from 0.0% to 50% with a median of 5.0% (IQR = 2.0-10.0) and a mean of 7.4% (7.6). The poorest reported the highest mean proportionate expenditure (9.8%, SD = 10) from the household income. Household expenditure on tobacco negatively associated with expenditure on education.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: K Manuja N
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Perera
authors.affiliation: 2 Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: G N Duminda
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Guruge
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Pushpa L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Jayawardana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics*; D064424:Tobacco Use / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Sri Lanka; household expenditure; poverty; rural; tobacco