Sweetened areca-nut chewing habit: A public health issue among school children of Indore, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v2i2.15959Keywords:
Areca chewing habit, Children, Epidemiology, Health risks, IndiaAbstract
Chewing of the areca-nut usually starts early in life leading to a multitude of problems in adulthood. The areca-nut can be correlated with an increased incidence of cancer. Like tobacco, chewing the areca-nut also leads to oral and oro-pharyngeal cancers. The areca-nut is usually marketed in the form of a sweetened areca-nut (locally known as sweet supari) to target young children. A high proportion of school children use areca-nut daily in some form. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of sweetened areca-nut use and assess the awareness of health risks among school students of Indore, India. Till date none of the studies have pointed out the prevalence of sweet-ened areca use. Population based studies on the habit of areca-nut chewing among children from the district of Indore, Central India have not been reported earlier in the studies. In our study we found 81% of the children used the sweetened form of the areca-nut. Fifty five percent of areca-nut users reported that they learnt the habit from their friends or siblings. The majority of the users (70.4%) were unaware of the harmful effects of areca-nut use, and only a few were aware that it may cause cancer or oral submucous fibrosis. Government school children are more involved in areca-nut chewing habit. Boys were more indulged than girls. Actively communicating the areca-nuts health risks to the public, and creating strategies involving parents, teachers and local communities could be initiated to discourage areca-nut use.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v2i2.15959
South East Asia J Public Health | Jul-Dec 2012 | Vol 2 Issue 2 | 73-76
Downloads
192
189
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).