Assessment of tobacco prevalence among employees working in a shopping mall in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Background: India is one of the countries in the world where prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco use is high. There is a need of cessation programs in various settings, and workplace with high prevalence can be targeted for the same. There are no studies conducted on prevalence of tobacco consumption among employees working at a shopping mall in this part of the country. Aim: This study estimates the prevalence of tobacco use among employees working in a shopping mall in Panvel. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the selected study population of 250 employees using the questionnaire adopted from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). Informed consent was taken from every participant. The data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire adopted from GATS. Data collected were entered and statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 24.0 software (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were carried out in the present study. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 73.2% (183) of the employees were nontobacco users and 26.8% (67) consumed tobacco. The prevalence of smoking was 12% (30), and for smokeless, it was 11.6% (29), and 3.2% (8) consumed both forms. It was found that 12% (30) were willing to take help from the counselor to quit the habit and 13.2% (33) were not willing to take help. Conclusions: The present study reflects high prevalence rates of tobacco use among the employees. De-addiction programs and counseling sessions can be conducted for the employees willing to quit tobacco. New policies and tactics on tobacco use need to be explored to ensure the initiation of new tobacco control activities and monitor the existing tobacco control policies.