The Age-old tradition of Hookah smoking and its association with Geriatric Anaemia in rural women of north India Das Sayani1,*, Chandel Shivani2 1PhD Research Scholar, Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India 2Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, India, vs.shivani@gmail.com *Corresponding Author Email: das.sayani6@gmail.com
Online published on 25 July, 2019. Abstract Hookah smoking is an age-old tradition prevalent among the rural population of India. It is quite risky in terms of causing addiction to nicotine as well as several illnesses. This study offers to find out the association of hookah smoking with geriatric anaemia. Cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect data on 206 elderly women of the Palwal district of Haryana, North India. Prevalence of hookah smoker was 36.4% and it is projected to rise with the increasing age. The prevalence of anaemia (69.4%) was also high among this geriatric population. Present study found that hookah smoking is significantly correlated with geriatric anaemia (r=0.472, p <0.01). Result reveals that hookah smoker are about 11 times more likely to develop anaemia (OR: 11.2, 95% CI: 5.33–23.53). This study highlighted the need for more effective tobacco control policies and awareness programme in rural villages of India to prevent the health hazards related to smoking. Top Keywords Elderly women, Geriatric anaemia, Haemoglobin, Hookah, India, Rural, Tobacco. Top |