Introduction Numerous studies have demonstrated that excessive alcohol consumption and tobacco use
are independently associated with a plethora of health-related, social, and economic adverse consequences
for the consumers of these legal substances as well as for society at large.
Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was done in rural & urban areas of Distt. Dehradun. Multistage
Stratified Random Sampling was used for selection of study area, Kish method was applied for the
selection of study subjects. Statistical analysis: Proportions, Chi square, Odds ratio was calculated.
Results: The overall prevalence of ever use of tobacco was 24.4%. It was observed that prevalence of tobacco
was more (32.9%) in rural area as compare to urban area (15.8%). The prevalence of ever smokers
was 12.2%. Smoking was more among males [25.6%] as compared to females [3.2%]. Bidi was the main
form of smoking i.e. 72.9%. The prevalence of current daily smokeless tobacco user was 16.8%. Khaini
was the most commonly used form. Prevalence of ever alcohol use among respondents was 17.4%. Overall
16.6% of male respondents while only 0.8% of females have consumed alcohol in their lifetime. Almost
21.2% of males in rural area and 12.0% in urban area were alcohol users. The prevalence of current
alcohol use in rural / urban area was 20.6% & 13% respectively.
Conclusion : It can be concluded from our study that the burden of one of the major risk factors for
Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs)i.e. substance abuse is quite high among rural & urban areas of district
Dehradun.