Readiness to quit addiction! A study among patients attending tertiary care hospital in Western India

• Published in: Tobacco induced diseases 2018-03, Vol.16 (1)
• Main Authors: Mehta, Kedar, Pandya, Chandresh, Solanki, Dipak, Chavda, Paragkumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictions; Chewing; Drug addiction; Informed consent; Morbidity; Patients; Psychiatry; Public health; Rural areas; Tobacco; WCTOH
• ISSN: 1617-9625; 1617-9625
• DOI: 10.18332/tid/83920

Background: Tobacco use has been an important public health problem in India. Tobacco cessation is considered a cost effective intervention in controlling the tobacco epidemic in terms of preventable morbidity and mortality. Readiness to quit is one of the key steps in the process towards tobacco cessation. However, it is important to know the addiction pattern in the particular region so as to initiate de-addiction initiatives. So the current study was carried out with an objective to find the addiction habits and readiness to quit addiction among patients visiting GMERS Gotri General Hospital, a tertiary care hospital attached to Medical College in Gujarat, India. Methods: All the patients at the registration desk of the hospital were randomly selected during May 2015. A total of 626 patients having any form of addiction were enrolled in this cross sectional study after taking written informed consent. They were interviewed in vernacular language using a validated semi-structured questionnaire. After counseling them for quitting tobacco use, their readiness to quit was enquired and those willing were referred to de-addiction clinic in Psychiatry department. Data was entered and analysed using Epi Info Software. Results: Out of 626 addictive patients registered, 97% were males, 50.8% in the middle age group and 59.3% from rural areas. The most common form of addiction was tobacco chewing (66.4%) followed by smoking (32.7%) and alcohol (19.4%). Among them 428 (68.4%) showed readiness to quit. Out of those ready to quit 198 (46.2%) were actually registered at the de-addiction clinic. Conclusions: Majority of patients were ready to quit addiction, so there is a need to have an ongoing program for awareness among patients about the de-addiction services already available within the hospital to improve quit rate. An awareness kiosk at the outpatient department can be explored in further studies.