A study by the Tata Memorial Hospital at Parel to gauge the prevalence of tobacco consumption at the BPOs in Mumbai has thrown some scary findings.
Despite being educated, most of them knew nothing about its ill-effectsA study by the Tata Memorial Hospital at Parel to gauge the prevalence of tobacco consumption at the BPOs in Mumbai has thrown some scary findings.
The preliminary findings of the study has revealed that more than 50 per cent of the male employees and a little less percentage of female employees go for smoke breaks every two to three hours.
The next appalling disclosure was that despite being educated, most of them knew close to nothing about the ill-effects of tobacco except for cancer.
The study was initiated in August 2007, with a sample size of 800-1,000 employees from four BPOs in the city. Average age of the employees being 22-23 years, the research team found out that most of the women took to smoking due to immense peer pressure as well as work stress.
They were unaware that apart from cancer, tobacco consumption can also lead to cardiac problems, hypertension, lung diseases and many others.
“Though almost all forms of tobacco consumption were evident, 98% of it was cigarette smoking,” said Dr Gautami Mishra, consultant, preventive oncology, who is leading the study.
The findings also hint that many of the employees were addicted to hookah and frequented the hookah joints in the western suburbs. “Since hookah contains nicotine, some of them may be addicted to it,” said Mishra.
However, Mishra said that the BPOs alone should not be blamed. This is because about 50 per cent of the women who took to smoking did that even
before they took up the job.
Also, there is a section of women in the office who are opposed to the idea of smoking and have shown displeasure to even passive smoking.
The researchers have divided the sample size randomly into four groups and either received behavioural therapy, pharmacological therapy, focussed discussion and a group was simply given pamphlets to read.
Apart from the study, Tata Hospital has also started cessation camps. “Some of them have started quitting smoking after the camps,” said Mishra.
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