High prevalence of tobacco use, alcohol use and overweight in a rural population in Tamil Nadu, India

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in India. There is high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in urban Tamil Nadu. There are limited data on the prevalence of behavioral risk factors and overweight in rural Tamil Nadu.
Aim: We estimated prevalence of behavioral risk factors, overweight and central obesity in a rural population in Tamil Nadu, India.
Setting and Design: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 11 villages in Kancheepuram/Thiruvallur districts, Tamil Nadu.
Materials and Methods: Study population included 10,500 subjects aged 25-64 years. We collected data on behavioral risk factors and anthropometric measurements. Body mass index (BMI) was categorized using the classification recommended for Asians. Central obesity was defined as waist circumference ≥90 cm for men and ≥80 cm for women. We computed proportions for all risk factors and used trend chi-square to examine trend.
Results: Among the 10,500 subjects, 4927 (47%) were males. Among males, 1852 (37.6%) were current smokers and 3073 (62.4%) were current alcohol users. Among females, 840 (15.1%) were smokeless tobacco users. BMI was ≥23.0 kg/m ² for 1618 (32.8%) males and 2126 (38.2%) females. 867 (17.6%) males and 1323 (23.7%) females were centrally obese. Most commonly used edible oil was palm oil followed by sunflower oil and groundnut oil.
Conclusion: We observed high prevalence of tobacco use, alcohol use and central obesity in the rural population in Tamil Nadu. There is need for health promotion programs to encourage adoption of healthy lifestyle and policy interventions to create enabling environment.