Progression in Tobacco use in India: an Application of Survival Function Analysis

The specific objectives of the present study are to analyze the differentials in prevalence; progression of use of tobacco and major determinants of quitting of smoking as well as use of smokeless tobacco. The rationale behind this study is to spread the awareness about the disease and deaths due to tobacco consumption. This study utilized the data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India (GATS India). This paper is an attempt to find the progression of use of tobacco in all the regions of India by using the Kaplan-Meier Survival Analysis and Cox's Proportional Hazards Regression. The Cox proportional-hazards regressions model is broadly applicable and the most widely used method of survival analysis. The prevalence is high in Bihar (54%), Chhattisgarh (53%), and Jharkhand (50%) and the lowest in Goa (9 %), Punjab (12 %).the probability of quitting tobacco among females is 1.35 times (p<.01) higher compared to their male counterparts. The probability of quitting tobacco is found to be 37.6 percent less among people from the North-East than among people from the northern region. However, the chances of quitting the use of smokeless tobacco are less in the North-East (HR=0.48), followed by the central (HR=0.94).