Study Objectives: This study was designed to assess awareness of the effects of chewing tobacco, attitudes towards public spitting and to explore a relationship between the two behaviors.
Material and Methods: This is a study on attendants of patients at Department of Neurology, AIIMS, utilizing a pretested questionnaire. Data from 90 subjects was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2007.
Results: A higher level of awareness was noted for chewing tobacco as a risk factor for cancer and poor dentition compared with gum slump, bad breath, addiction potential, social effects, effects on taste and smell, and heart disease. Forty percent of all the subjects admitted to spitting in public.
Though a high percentage of tobacco chewers (46.6%) indulged in the behavior, a large percentage of non tobacco chewers (38%) also spit in public. Knowledge of consequences was low.
Conclusions: There is variable level of awareness regarding the effects of chewing tobacco. Both tobacco chewers and non-chewers spit in public.
Public Spitting? The health effects are important. Public spitting, not so much.
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