Nicotine dependence and stage of change among adult tobacco users in a coastal region of southern India.

Introduction: Tobacco consumption in the world has grown in an epidemic proportion, thus posing a significant health challenge to the world. Almost half of the people who use tobacco die due to its harmful effects. Tobacco is also one of the four main risk factors for preventable chronic diseases.

Material and methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 2033 individuals aged ≥18 years. A questionnaire was administered to collect sociodemographic characteristics, patterns of tobacco use, level of nicotine dependence, and the stage of change to quit tobacco.

Results: Of the total participants, nearly 32% were ever users of tobacco, of which 27.2% were current users. Current smokers were 5.8% and smokeless tobacco users were 23.02%. On Fagerstrom questionnaire, half of the chewers (49.4%) were highly or very dependent as compared to smokers (20.1%). On assessing readiness to quit tobacco, it was found that most of them (43.9%) were in the pre-contemplation stage, followed by stages of contemplation (32.4%), preparation (21.1%), action, and maintenance (1.3% each).

Conclusion: Tobacco consumption in the region remains high, with smokeless tobacco being more prevalent than smoking. Dependence levels among smokeless tobacco users surpass those of smokers. Additionally, a significant portion of users show no intention of quitting in the near future, highlighting the urgent need for targeted and customized intervention programs tailored to address the specific needs of this population.