Tobacco Use Among Middle-Aged Population in India: Prevalence, Patterns, and Health Implications – A Comprehensive Review

  • Unique Paper ID: 182277
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 928-936
  • Abstract:
  • Tobacco use among the middle-aged population in India represents a significant public health challenge with increasing prevalence and severe health consequences. This systematic review synthesizes existing research on tobacco consumption patterns, prevalence rates, and associated health risks among middle-aged individuals in India and globally. A comprehensive search of multiple databases was conducted to identify relevant studies examining tobacco use patterns, cessation behaviors, and intervention effectiveness. The review included cross-sectional studies, community-based surveys, and intervention trials conducted across various Indian states and international settings. Results indicate alarming prevalence rates of tobacco use, with 37.2% of study populations reporting ever-tobacco use, including 32.9% current users and only 4.3% successful quitters. Smokeless tobacco forms, particularly Mawa-masala (63.7%) and Gutka (57.6%), dominate consumption patterns, with users typically consuming tobacco 6-8 times daily. The initiation age commonly falls between 15-30 years, with strong familial influences (63.8% family exposure). Despite moderate awareness of health hazards, cessation rates remain disappointingly low, with only 28.4% of current users expressing willingness to quit. Health complications serve as the primary motivation for cessation (72.2% of quitters). Educational interventions showed promising results, with structured teaching programs demonstrating significant knowledge improvement from 38.67% to 74.67%. The evidence strongly links tobacco use, especially smokeless forms, to serious health consequences including oral and throat cancers, with case-control studies showing 39-fold increased risk among users. These findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive, multi-sectoral interventions targeting awareness, cessation support, and policy implementation to address this growing epidemic in India's middle-aged population.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2025 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{182277,
        author = {Johnsy Jose and Ashoo Mishra and Amita Arya and Soumya Singh and Maggie Jose and Litti K I and Minimol T.J. and Libin Joseph},
        title = {Tobacco Use Among Middle-Aged Population in India: Prevalence, Patterns, and Health Implications –  A Comprehensive Review},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {2},
        pages = {928-936},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=182277},
        abstract = {Tobacco use among the middle-aged population in India represents a significant public health challenge with increasing prevalence and severe health consequences. This systematic review synthesizes existing research on tobacco consumption patterns, prevalence rates, and associated health risks among middle-aged individuals in India and globally. A comprehensive search of multiple databases was conducted to identify relevant studies examining tobacco use patterns, cessation behaviors, and intervention effectiveness. The review included cross-sectional studies, community-based surveys, and intervention trials conducted across various Indian states and international settings. Results indicate alarming prevalence rates of tobacco use, with 37.2% of study populations reporting ever-tobacco use, including 32.9% current users and only 4.3% successful quitters. Smokeless tobacco forms, particularly Mawa-masala (63.7%) and Gutka (57.6%), dominate consumption patterns, with users typically consuming tobacco 6-8 times daily. The initiation age commonly falls between 15-30 years, with strong familial influences (63.8% family exposure). Despite moderate awareness of health hazards, cessation rates remain disappointingly low, with only 28.4% of current users expressing willingness to quit. Health complications serve as the primary motivation for cessation (72.2% of quitters). Educational interventions showed promising results, with structured teaching programs demonstrating significant knowledge improvement from 38.67% to 74.67%. The evidence strongly links tobacco use, especially smokeless forms, to serious health consequences including oral and throat cancers, with case-control studies showing 39-fold increased risk among users. These findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive, multi-sectoral interventions targeting awareness, cessation support, and policy implementation to address this growing epidemic in India's middle-aged population.},
        keywords = {Tobacco consumption, middle-aged population, India, Smokeless tobacco, Health interventions, Framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC)},
        month = {July},
        }

Related Articles