• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.5035-5042
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• 2014

Background: Knowledge and individual perceptions about adverse effects of all forms of tobacco exert direct influence on the level of tobacco consumption in various socio-demographic groups. The objective of this study was to determine the nature, extent and demographic correlates of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of use of tobacco among adults in low and middle income countries. Materials and Methods: The Global Adult Tobacco Survey, conducted in fourteen different countries from 2008-2010, was sourced for the data analyzed in this study. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to determine the prevalent knowledge and individual perceptions amongst adults about all forms of tobacco consumption. Results: There was relatively high awareness about the harmful effects of smoking tobacco with main awareness being about its relationship with lung cancer (>90% in most countries). In contrast, there was relatively low awareness about harmful effects of smokeless tobacco (< 90% in all countries except India and Bangladesh), and observed correlation of smoking tobacco with heart attack (40.6% in China, 65.1% in India) and stroke (28.2% in China, 50.5% in India). Conclusions: A large proportion of adults living in low and middle income countries possess adequate knowledge about smoking tobacco but have inadequate awareness as well as false perceptions about smokeless forms of tobacco. Popular beliefs of inverse relationships of tobacco consumption with knowledge, attitudes and perception of populations towards tobacco are challenged by the findings of this study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1269-1276
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• 2016

Background: Tobacco consumption continues to be the leading cause of preventable deaths globally. The objective of this study was to examine the associaton of selected socio-demographic variables with current tobacco use in five countries that participated in the Phase II Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2011 - 2012. Materials and Methods: We analysed internationally comparable representative household survey data from 33,482 respondents aged ${\geq}15years$ in Indonesia, Malaysia, Romania, Argentina and Nigeria for determinants of tobacco use within each country. Socio-demographic variables analysed included gender, age, residency, education, wealth index and awareness of smoking health consequences. Current tobacco use was defined as smoking or use of smokeless tobacco daily or occasionally. Results: The overall prevalence of tobacco use varied from 5.5% in Nigeria to 35.7% in Indonesia and was significantly higher among males than females in all five countries. Odds ratios for current tobacco use were significantly higher among males for all countries [with the greatest odds among Indonesian men (OR=67.4, 95% CI: 51.2-88.7)] and among urban dwellers in Romania. The odds of current tobacco use decreased as age increased for all countries except Nigeria where. The reverse was true for Argentina and Nigeria. Significant trends for decreasing tobacco use with increasing educational levels and wealth index were seen in Indonesia, Malaysia and Romania. Significant negative associations between current tobacco use and awareness of adverse health consequences of smoking were found in all countries except Argentina. Conclusions: Males and the socially and economically disadvantaged populations are at the greatest risk of tobacco use. Tobacco control interventions maybe tailored to this segment of population and incorporate educational interventions to increase knowledge of adverse health consequences of smoking.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3323-3329
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• 2013

Background: The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) was carried out for systematically monitoring tobacco use and for tracking key tobacco control indicators. Materials and Methods: A total of 70,802 households, including 42,647 in rural areas and 28,155 in urban areas, were covered with a three stage sampling design. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practices of tobacco consumption.Results: GATS-India highlighted that total tobacco use among its residents is overall 34.6%, varying for males (47.9%) and females (20.7%). The rural areas of the country exhibit comparatively higher prevalence rates (38.4%) in comparison to urban areas (25.3%). Overall, Khaini, a smokeless tobacco product (12.0%), is the most popular form of tobacco use among males and females, followed by bidi smoking (9.0%). Conclusion: Results of GATS data can be used as baseline for evaluation of new tobacco control approaches in India integrating culturally acceptable and cost effective measures.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6563-6568
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• 2013

Background: Tobacco use and quit attempts are two key indicators of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) that assess quit attempts among current as well as former tobacco users. The relevant data have inherent policy implications for tobacco cessation programme evaluation. This study aimed to review the concepts of quit attempt assessment and quantifying invalid responses considering GATS-India data. Materials and Methods: GATS assessment of tobacco use and quit attempts were examined in the current literature. Two categories of invalid responses were identified by stratified analysis of the duration of last quit attempt among current users and duration of abstinence among former users. Category A included absolute invalid responses when time-frame of assessment of current tobacco use and less than former tobacco use were violated. Category B included responses that violated the unit of measurement of time. Results: Current daily use, current less than daily use and former use in GATS were imprecisely defined with overlapping of time-frame of assessment. Overall responses of 3,102 current smokers, 4,036 current smokeless users, 1,904 former smokers and 1,343 former smokeless users were analyzed to quantify invalid responses. Analysis indicated overall 21.2% (category A: 7.32%; category B: 17.7%) and 22.7% (category A: 8.05%; category B: 18.1%) invalid responses among current smokers and smokeless users respectively regarding their duration of last quit attempt. Similarly overall 6.62% (category A: 4.7%; category B: 2.3%) and 10.6% (category A: 8.6%; category B: 3.5%) invalid responses were identified among former smokers and smokeless users respectively regarding their duration of abstinence. Conclusions: High invalid responses for a single assessment are due to the imprecise definition of current use, former use and quit attempt; and failure to utilize opportunity of direct data entry interface use during the survey to validate responses instantly. Redefining tobacco use and quit attempts considering an appropriate timeframe would reduce invalid responses.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2016

Viet Nam is a country with the highest rate of adult male smokers in the world. In 2010, the percentage of adult male smokers was 47.4%. Each year in Viet Nam, there are 40,000 lives lost from tobacco-related diseases. The Global Tobacco Youth Survey is an international standardized survey that has been conducted in more than 140 countries. To provide evidence for tobacco control, Viet Nam already conducted two rounds of GYTS in 2003 and 2007. The GYTS in 2014 is the survey's third iteration. This paper aims to document key methodological details and socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents included in the 2014 GYTS in Viet Nam. This survey followed international protocol and was conducted in 13 provinces representative of 6 geographical regions. A total of 3,430 school children, aged 13 to 15 years used a standardized answer sheet to answer 76 questions about seven tobacco-related topics, including prevalence of tobacco use, environmental tobacco smoke, access and availability, media and advertisement, cessation, knowledge and attitudes, tobacco-related school curriculum. This GYTS provides valid and reliable data for monitoring tobacco use among youth in Vietnam and is recommended to be regularly repeated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3299-3304
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• 2013

Background: The Global Adult Tobacco Survey has 15 key indicators, cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) among daily smokers being one of them. The first wave of GATS in 14 countries indicated that mean CPD use is higher in women than men in India only, which is contrary to the current understanding of tobacco use globally. This study was undertaken to understand the unusual findings for mean CPD use in the GATS-India survey. Materials and Methods: Items B06a and B06b of the GATS India survey questionnaire that collected information on daily consumption of manufactured and rolled cigarettes were analyzed using SPSS software. Exclusive users were identified from these items after excluding the concurrent users of other tobacco products. Cigarette type, exclusive use and gender stratified analyses were made. Consumption of different types of cigarettes among the mixed users of manufactured and rolled cigarettes were correlated. Results: Higher mean number of CPD use among male daily-smokers was observed than their female counterparts in product specific analysis. Mean CPD as per GATS cigarette definition was higher in males than females for exclusive users but a reverse trend was observed in case of non-exclusive users. Use of manufactured cigarettes increased with increase in use of rolled cigarette among the mixed users and around half of these users reported equal CPD frequency for the both types of cigarettes. Conclusions: The anomaly in mean CPD estimate in GATS-India data was due to inclusion of two heterogeneous products to define cigarettes, variation in cigarette product specific user proportions contributing to the average and non-exclusive concurrent use of other tobacco products. The consumption pattern of cigarettes among the mixed users highlights bias in CPD reporting. Definition, analysis and interpretation of 'cigarettes per day' in the GATS India survey need to be improved by redefining cigarettes and making product specific analyses.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3865-3869
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• 2013

Background: Cigarette per day (CPD) use is a key smoking behaviour indicator. It reflects smoking intensity which is directly proportional to the occurrence of tobacco induced cancers. Self reported CPD assessment in surveys may suffer from digit bias and under reporting. Estimates from such surveys could influence the policy decision for tobacco control efforts. In this context, this study aimed at identifying underlying factors of digit bias and its implications for Global Adult Tobacco Surveillance. Materials or Methods: Daily manufactured cigarette users CPD frequencies from Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) - India data were analyzed. Adapted Whipple Index was estimated to assess digit bias and data quality of reported CPD frequency. Digit bias was quantified by considering reporting of '0' or '5' as the terminal digits in the CPD frequency. The factors influencing it were identified by bivariate and logistic regression analysis. Results: The mean and mode of CPD frequency was 6.7 and 10 respectively. Around 14.5%, 15.1% and 15.2% of daily smokers had reported their CPD frequency as 2, 5 and 10 respectively. Modified Whipple index was estimated to be 226.3 indicating poor data quality. Digit bias was observed in 38% of the daily smokers. Heavy smoking, urban residence, North, South, North- East region of India, less than primary, secondary or higher educated and fourth asset index quintile group were significantly associated with digit bias. Discussion: The present study highlighted poor quality of CPD frequency data in the GATS-India survey and need for its improvement. Modeling of digit preference and smoothing of the CPD frequency data is required to improve quality of data. Marketing of 10 cigarette sticks per pack may influence CPD frequency reporting, but this needs further examination. Exploring alternative methods to reduce digit bias in cross sectional surveys should be given priority.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.625-630
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• 2013

Background: Hardcore smoking is represented by a subset of daily smokers with high nicotine dependence, inability to quit and unwillingness to quit. Estimating the related burden could help us in identifying a high risk population prone to tobacco induced diseases and improve cessation planning for them. This study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of hardcore smoking in three South-East Asian countries and discussed its implication for smoking cessation intervention in this region. Materials and Methods: Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) data of India, Bangladesh and Thailand were analyzed to quantify the hardcore smoking prevalence in the region. On the basis of review, an operational definition of hardcore smoking was adopted that includes (1) current daily smoker, (2) no quit attempt in the past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of less than 24 hours duration, (3) no intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting, (4) time to first smoke within 30 minutes of waking up, and (5) knowledge of smoking hazards. Logistic regression analysis was carried out using hardcore smoking status as response variable and gender, type of residence, occupation, education, wealth index and age-group as possible predictors. Results: There were 31.3 million hardcore smokers in the three Asian countries. The adult prevalence of hardcore smoking in these countries ranges between 3.1% in India to 6% in Thailand. These hardcore smokers constitute 18.3-29.7% of daily smokers. The logistic regression model indicated that age, gender, occupation and wealth index are the major predictors of hardcore smoking with varied influence across countries. Conclusions: Presence of a higher number of hardcore smoking populations in Asia is a major public health challenge for tobacco control and cancer prevention. There is need of intensive cessation interventions with due consideration of contextual predictors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5959-5963
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• 2012

Background: The term 'hardcore' has been applied to use of smoking tobacco and generally referred to as the inability or unwillingness of regular smokers to quit. The component constructs of hardcore except nicotine dependence are product neutral. With the use of 'time to first chew' as a measure of nicotine dependence, hardcore definition can be extended to characterize smokeless tobacco users. Hardcore users respond less to tobacco cessation interventions, and are prone to tobacco induced diseases including cancer. Thus identifying hardcore users would help in estimate the burden of high risk population for tobacco induced diseases. Smokeless tobacco use is predominant and accounts for more than 50% of oral cancer in India. Hence, hardcore chewing information could be used for planning of tobacco and cancer control interventions. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India. Materials and Methods: Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)-India 2010 data were analyzed to quantify hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India with following five criteria: (1) current daily smokeless tobacco use; (2) no quit attempt in the past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of less than 24 hours duration; (3) no intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting; (4) time to first use of smokeless tobacco product within 30 minutes of waking up; and (5) knowledge of smokeless tobacco hazards. Results: The number of hardcore smokeless tobacco users among adult Indians is estimated to be 5% (39.5 million). This group comprises 23.2% of daily smokeless tobacco users. The population prevalence varied from 1.4-9.1% across different national regions of India. Logistic regression modeling indicated age, education and employment status to be the major predictors of hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India. Conclusions: The presence of a huge number (39.5 million) of hardcore smokeless tobacco users is a challenge to tobacco control and cancer prevention in India. There is an unmet need for a universal tobacco cessation programme and intensification of anti-tobacco education in communities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2673-2680
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• 2013

Tobacco abuse is a major preventable cause of premature death and disease, including various cancers. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey India (GATS) 2009-10 revealed that more than one-third of adults use tobacco in one form or the other. Nearly two in five smokers and smokeless tobacco users made attempts to quit the habit in the past 12 months. Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition characterized by susceptibility of relapse over years. It can be well handled by sustained professional support from health care providers mainly through behavioral counseling and pharmacotherapy. Dental professionals can play a pivotal role in diagnosing and effectively managing tobacco dependence. Dental Institutions have rapidly grown in last two decades across the country and so has the curriculum been adapted to improve student competencies to accommodate changing disease patterns and technological advances, but not in regard to tobacco cessation. Untapped dental manpower like undergraduates, dental hygienists and other paramedical staff need effective training to be more penetrative. The present review paper explores the potential role of dental training institutions and recommends various approaches to counter public health jeopardy of tobacco related diseases.