Effectiveness of a brief community outreach tobacco cessation intervention in India: a cluster-randomised controlled trial (the BABEX Trial).

Background: Tobacco use kills half a million people every month, most in low-middle income countries (LMICs). There is an urgent need to identify potentially low-cost, scalable tobacco cessation interventions for these countries.

Objective: To evaluate a brief community outreach intervention delivered by health workers to promote tobacco cessation in India.

The Social Gradient in Tobacco Use Does Not Generalize to Low-Income Urban Communities in India: Findings From a Census Survey.

Introduction: The existence of a social gradient in tobacco use has been clearly established in a number of countries with people with lower socioeconomic status being more likely to use tobacco. It is not clear how far this gradient is evident within severely deprived communities. This study assessed the association between occupation as a marker of socioeconomic status and use of smoked and smokeless tobacco within "slum" areas of Delhi, India.

Cardiac Rehabilitation Delivery Model for Low-Resource Settings: An International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Consensus Statement.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a global epidemic, which is largely preventable. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is demonstrated to be efficacious and cost-effective for secondary prevention in high-income countries. Given its affordability, CR should be more broadly implemented in middle-income countries as well.

Cardiac rehabilitation delivery model for low-resource settings.

Objective: Cardiovascular disease is a global epidemic, which is largely preventable. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is demonstrated to be cost-effective and efficacious in high-income countries. CR could represent an important approach to mitigate the epidemic of cardiovascular disease in lower-resource settings.

Cross-sectional serologic assessment of immunity to poliovirus infection in high-risk areas of northern India.

Introduction: The objectives of this survey were to assess the seroprevalence of antibodies to poliovirus types 1 and 3 and the impact of bivalent (types 1 and 3) oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV) use in immunization campaigns in northern India.

Methods: In August 2010, a 2-stage stratified cluster sampling method identified infants aged 6-7 months in high-risk blocks for wild poliovirus infection. Vaccination history, weight and length, and serum were collected to test for neutralizing antibodies to poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3.

An acute flaccid paralysis surveillance-based serosurvey of poliovirus antibodies in Western Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background: Despite intensified use of monovalent oral poliovirus type 1 vaccine and improved coverage of immunization campaigns, wild poliovirus type 1 persisted in Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during 2006 to 2009.

Methods: A serosurvey was conducted among cases of acute flaccid paralysis in the 25 high-polio-incidence districts of western Uttar Pradesh. Children were recruited by age group (6-11 months, 12-24 months, and 25-69 months) from among cases reported through the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system between November 2008 and August 2009.

Assessing population immunity in a persistently high-risk area for wild poliovirus transmission in India: a serological study in Moradabad, Western Uttar Pradesh.

Background: Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of paralytic polio cases in India during 2001-2007. We conducted a study in Moradabad in 2007 to assess seroprevalence against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 in children 6-12 and 36-59 months of age to guide future strategies to interrupt wild poliovirus transmission in high-risk areas.

Methods: Children attending 10 health facilities for minor illnesses who met criteria for study inclusion were eligible for enrollment.

Perception and practices of physicians in addressing the smokeless tobacco epidemic: findings from two States in India.

Background: Smokeless tobacco use in South Asia is believed to be a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality. In India, only a few studies involving health educational intervention by health care providers have demonstrated reduction in smokeless tobacco usage. In the present study we assessed the cessation efforts towards smokeless tobacco by physicians in two high tobacco prevalence states of India.

A cluster randomized controlled trial of a brief tobacco cessation intervention for low-income communities in India: study protocol.

Background: India has 275 million adult tobacco users and tobacco use is estimated to contribute to more than a million deaths in the country each year. There is an urgent need to develop and evaluate affordable, practicable and scalable interventions to promote cessation of tobacco use. Because tobacco use is so harmful, an increase of as little as 1 percentage point in long-term quit success rates can have an important public health impact.

Tobacco use and quit behaviour assessment in the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS): invalid responses and implications.

Background: Tobacco use and quit attempts are two key indicators of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) that assess quit attempts among current as well as former tobacco users. The relevant data have inherent policy implications for tobacco cessation programme evaluation. This study aimed to review the concepts of quit attempt assessment and quantifying invalid responses considering GATS-India data.

Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS): a case for change in definition, analysis and interpretation of "cigarettes" and "cigarettes per day" in completed and future surveys.

Background: The Global Adult Tobacco Survey has 15 key indicators, cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) among daily smokers being one of them. The first wave of GATS in 14 countries indicated that mean CPD use is higher in women than men in India only, which is contrary to the current understanding of tobacco use globally. This study was undertaken to understand the unusual findings for mean CPD use in the GATS-India survey.

Determinants of tobacco cessation behaviour among smokers and smokeless tobacco users in the states of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, India.

Background: This study was undertaken to identify the socio-demographic determinants of quit attempts among smokers and smokeless tobacco users to identify correlates of tobacco cessation behaviour in India.

Materials And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study for the outcome of quit attempts made by current tobacco users in last 12 months in twelve districts in two states. Simple and multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to obtain the odds ratios (ORs) of socio-demographic variables (age, gender, education, occupation, socio- economic status, community, area, type of family) and tobacco user status (smoker/smokeless).

The acute effects of yogic breathing exercises on craving and withdrawal symptoms in abstaining smokers.

Rationale: Breathing exercises have been proposed as a way of combating cigarette cravings, potentially presenting a low-cost, easily scalable smoking cessation aid.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the acute impact of breathing exercises based on yogic pranayama on cravings in abstaining smokers.

Methods: Participants visited the laboratory on two occasions 24 h apart and were asked to abstain from smoking 12 h prior to the first visit until the end of the second visit.