Alarming Trend in Under-Five Indian Children's Exposure to Indoor Tobacco Smoke
Bhupendra K Verma1, Mamta Verma2, Mukul Mondal2
1Law, Bimal Chandra College of Law, Murshidabad, IND.
Insights
Indoor exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) for children under five in India has increased dramatically, rising 13-fold in a decade. This alarming trend necessitates urgent legislative action to protect children from secondhand smoke indoors.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Environmental Health
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) face significant health risks.
- Indian law protects children from outdoor ETS but lacks indoor protections.
- A critical need exists to assess indoor ETS exposure trends among young children in India.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the trend of indoor environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in Indian children under five.
- To examine changes in indoor ETS exposure over a decade (2005-2016).
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional analysis using National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) data (2005-2006 and 2015-2016).
- Inclusion of under-five children from India.
- Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models to estimate and compare indoor ETS propensity based on sociodemographic factors.
Main Results:
- Prevalence of indoor ETS exposure among Indian children under five surged from 4.12% to 52.70% between 2005 and 2016.
- This significant increase was observed across all subgroups, irrespective of age, residence, region, socioeconomic status, or maternal literacy.
- The incidence of indoor ETS exposure increased 13-fold over the decade.
Conclusions:
- Indoor ETS exposure among Indian children under five has risen alarmingly, posing a substantial public health threat.
- Urgent legislative measures are required to ban indoor smoking and protect children.
- The Indian government must enact laws to safeguard children from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
Background And Aim:
Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke (ETS) are at risk for a variety of health issues. There are enough legislative provisions in Indian law to safeguard children from ETS in outdoor settings, but no such specific rules exist to shield them from exposure indoors. This study aimed to examine the trend in under-five children's exposure to indoor tobacco smoke over the course of a decade (from 2005 to 2016) in India.
Materials And Methods:
Data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) for the years 2005-2006 (NFHS-3) and 2015-2016 (NFHS-4) on under-five children have been taken into consideration in cross-sectional analyses of the Demographic and Health Survey on India. Based on different sociodemographic factors, the propensity of indoor ETS among Indian children has been estimated and compared using both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models.
Results:
The prevalence of indoor ETS among Indian children under the age of five has greatly risen over the past decade, rising from 4.12% to 52.70%. According to the findings, there has been a noticeable increase in every group of kids, regardless of their age, place of residence, geographic location, socioeconomic status, and literacy level of their mothers.
Conclusion:
In India, the incidence of indoor ETS among children under five has risen by 13 times in the last 10 years, endangering the country. As a result, the Indian government must prepare to take legislative action to safeguard children by passing laws that forbid smoking inside.
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