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BENGALURU: Seven per cent of adolescents between 15 years and 17 years in India experimented with smoking or smokeless tobacco, according to a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Centre for Disease Informatics & Research (NCDIR), Bengaluru.
The study report, published in the June 2021 issue of the British Medical Journal, highlights the risk factors for non-communicable diseases among adolescents. One in every 10 adolescents in India experimented with smoke or smokeless forms of tobacco, the study says, adding that adolescents from urban areas had a higher proportion of risk factors than those from rural areas.
The research, conducted in 2017-18, had 1,531 adolescents across the country. Of them, 3.1% reported current use of any form of tobacco, higher in rural areas (3.6%) and among boys (5.5 %). The study highlighted that one-fifth of adolescents reported noticing teachers or school staff smoking on the premises.