Dependence on smokeless tobacco and willingness to quit among patients of a tertiary care hospital of Bhavnagar, Western India

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data on smokeless tobacco (SLT) use in Bhavnagar city of western India. This research attempts to find out the dependence and willingness to quit SLT use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care government hospital on a calculated sample size of 258 SLT users in the year 2017. The patients were recruited from ear-nose-throat (ENT) and dental outpatient department (OPD). The tobacco dependence was assessed using “Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence-SLT” and willingness to quit was assessed on a Likert scale of 1–10. RESULTS: Among the 258 SLT users, 20% were highly dependent on SLT and 61% had low willingness to quit tobacco. “Mawa” was the most common (60%) chewed form of tobacco. Illiterate patients were three times more likely and patients whose occupation required traveling were 2.4 times more likely to develop high dependence for SLT than their counterparts. Patients living in the joint family were 2.7 times more likely to develop high dependence than patients living in a nuclear family. CONCLUSION: There is a need for the introduction of tobacco cessation interventions in ENT and dental OPD of tertiary care hospitals of western India.