XXXX use among school personnel in eight North-eastern states of India.

@entity1 @entity286
AIMS: To obtain baseline information about @entity286 use prevalence, knowledge and attitude among school personnel in Eight North-eastern states of India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample of schools with probability proportional to the enrollment in grades 8-10. Anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used for all personnel working in the selected schools. RESULTS: The school response rate was 100% in all states except Meghalaya (96%) and Tripura (92%). Over 70% of school personnel participated in the survey, the proportion of @entity1 being 56% (Meghalaya) to 83% (Assam). The prevalence of daily smoking ranged from 25.9% (Mizoram) to 12.8% (Arunachal Pradesh) and of smokeless @entity286 use from 57.8% (Mizoram) to 10.7% (Assam). Daily smoking among @entity1 and @entity1 was similar in five states but not in Arunachal Pradesh ( @entity1 15.0%, @entity1 4.0%), Nagaland ( @entity1 18.7%, 5.0%), and Tripura ( @entity1 18.6%, @entity1 0.4%). In four states cigarette was the most prevalent form of smoking (range 41% to 55%) whereas in other four states it was bidi (range 34% to 53%). Although the number of @entity1 was small, cigarettes smoking was reported more among @entity1 than @entity1 in four states: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland. Over 50% of current smokeless @entity286 users reported using betel quid in six states, except Mizoram (20%) and Sikkim (16%). CONCLUSION: @entity286 use among school personnel was high. High smoking rates reported by @entity1 were unexpected.
