A National Survey has found the highest prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption among the population of northeast India. The National Non-communicable Disease (NCD) Monitoring Survey was carried out by the National Center for Disease Informatics and Research under the Indian Council of Medical Research, Bengaluru.

Northeast India showed a significantly higher prevalence of current tobacco use in any form (45.7%), daily use of smoked tobacco (15.5%) as well as smokeless forms (33.6%) than other regions of the country.

In India, the prevalence of alcohol use among both men and women was found to be highest in the northeast region (22.3%), and the national average was around 12%. The prevalence of alcohol consumption in northeast India is almost twice that of the rest of the country. The highest proportion (35.2%) of men aged between 18 and 69 years from the northeast region reported alcohol consumption.

Other NCD risk factors like obesity, raised blood pressure and sugar were prevalent in 3.7%, 31.8%, and 10.7% of people in northeast India, respectively. Northeast India showed the lowest prevalence of overweight (22.4%), obesity (3.7%), and central obesity (29.0%) than the rest of the country.

The survey was published in the journal BMC Public Health on May 31, 2022.

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13466-5

According to Dr. Amal Chandra Kataki, Director of Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), the disease pattern in India has transitioned within the past 2 decades from infectious diseases, undernutrition, maternal and childhood diseases to the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes, cancer, etc.

NCDs contributed to 65% of all deaths in the country in 2019. The study finds of the high prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption among people of northeast India is a cause of concern. The high incidences and mortality due to cancer in northeast India could be a direct consequence of such lifestyle risk factors in the population. To mitigate the problem of tobacco and alcohol in the region, we need to develop regional action plans, further informed Dr Kataki.  

Dr Manigreeva Krishnatreya, Medical Officer of BBCI said “National NCD Monitoring Survey was conducted on a nationally representative sample of 12,000 adults across the six regions of the country. This study provides an opportunity to fill the literature gaps and mark the discrepancies in the NCD risk factor profile across the country at a given point in time. It helps to set a regional baseline for monitoring NCD indicators to be achieved by 2025” 

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