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Background: Based on an increased prevalence of diabetes, asthma and hypertension among women in reproductive age, understanding the risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial to inform policy and program interventions to address the problem. In this study, we empirically assessed the associations of behavioural factors such as alcohol consumption and tobacco use and a variety of socioeconomic characteristics with prevalence of NCDs in adult women. Methods: The data were derived from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015–16. The effective sample size for the present paper was 699,686 women aged 15–49 years in India. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate analysis were conducted to find the preliminary results. Additionally, multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to find the relationship between NCDs and behavioural factors such as alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Moreover, population attributable risk was estimated in the present study. Results: It was revealed that 15.9% of women had any of the NCDs. A proportion of 0.8% of women smoked tobacco whereas 5.5% of women consumed smokeless tobacco. Also, a proportion of 1.2% of women consumed alcohol in the current study. The odds of having NCDs among women who smoked tobacco, consumed smokeless tobacco and consume alcohol were 16, 8 and 20% significantly higher than the odds of having NCDs among women who did not smoke tobacco, consume smokeless tobacco and consume alcohol respectively. The population attributable risk of having NCDs was 1.8% (p < 0.001) for women who smoked, 0.8% (p < 0.001) for women who consumed smokeless tobacco and 2.2% (p < 0.001) for women who consumed alcohol. Besides, the odds of having NCDs among overweight and obese women were 2.25 and 3.60 times greater than the odds of having NCDs among women who were underweight. Conclusion: The findings revealed that smoking and using smokeless tobacco and alcohol consumption were risk factors of NCDs in women. The findings also alarm the focus of maternal and child health programs on NCDs' risk factors like maternal obesity, due to their adverse health consequences on their children too. Also, the coexistence of higher levels of tobacco use and alcohol consumption requires different strategies to address the vulnerability of women towards NCDs, including screening and early detection of NCDs especially among those who smoke or chew tobacco and consume alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on an increased prevalence of diabetes, asthma and hypertension among women in reproductive age, understanding the risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial to inform policy and program interventions to address the problem. In this study, we empirically assessed the associations of behavioural factors such as alcohol consumption and tobacco use and a variety of socioeconomic characteristics with prevalence of NCDs in adult women.Methods: The data were derived from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015-16. The effective sample size for the present paper was 699,686 women aged 15-49 years in India. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate analysis were conducted to find the preliminary results. Additionally, multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to find the relationship between NCDs and behavioural factors such as alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Moreover, population attributable risk was estimated in the present study.Results: It was revealed that 15.9% of women had any of the NCDs. A proportion of 0.8% of women smoked tobacco whereas 5.5% of women consumed smokeless tobacco. Also, a proportion of 1.2% of women consumed alcohol in the current study. The odds of having NCDs among women who smoked tobacco, consumed smokeless tobacco and consume alcohol were 16, 8 and 20% significantly higher than the odds of having NCDs among women who did not smoke tobacco, consume smokeless tobacco and consume alcohol respectively. The population attributable risk of having NCDs was 1.8% (p < 0.001) for women who smoked, 0.8% (p < 0.001) for women who consumed smokeless tobacco and 2.2% (p < 0.001) for women who consumed alcohol. Besides, the odds of having NCDs among overweight and obese women were 2.25 and 3.60 times greater than the odds of having NCDs among women who were underweight.Conclusion: The findings revealed that smoking and using smokeless tobacco and alcohol consumption were risk factors of NCDs in women. The findings also alarm the focus of maternal and child health programs on NCDs' risk factors like maternal obesity, due to their adverse health consequences on their children too. Also, the coexistence of higher levels of tobacco use and alcohol consumption requires different strategies to address the vulnerability of women towards NCDs, including screening and early detection of NCDs especially among those who smoke or chew tobacco and consume alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol use is typically established during adolescence and initiation of use at a young age poses risks for short- and long-term health and social outcomes. However, there is limited understanding of the onset, progression and impact of alcohol use among adolescents in India. The aim of this review is to synthesise the evidence about prevalence, patterns and correlates of alcohol use and alcohol use disorders in adolescents from India. Methods: Systematic review was conducted using relevant online databases, grey literature and unpublished data/outcomes from subject experts. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed and applied to screening rounds. Titles and abstracts were screened by two independent reviewers for eligibility, and then full texts were assessed for inclusion. Narrative synthesis of the eligible studies was conducted. Results: Fifty-five peer-reviewed papers and one report were eligible for inclusion in this review. Prevalence of ever or lifetime alcohol consumption ranged from 3.9% to 69.8%; and prevalence of alcohol consumption at least once in the past year ranged from 10.6% to 32.9%. The mean age for initiation of drinking ranged from 14.4 to 18.3 years. Some correlates associated with alcohol consumption included being male, older age, academic difficulties, parental use of alcohol or tobacco, non-contact sexual abuse and perpetuation of violence. Conclusion: The evidence base for alcohol use among adolescents in India needs a deeper exploration. Despite gaps in the evidence base, this synthesis provides a reasonable understanding of alcohol use among adolescents in India and can provide direction to policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aims to estimate the prevalence and correlates of multimorbidity among women aged 15–49 years in India. Additionally, the population attributable risk for multi-morbidity in reference to those women who smoke tobacco, chew tobacco, and consume alcohol is estimated. Methods: The data was derived from the National Family Health Survey which was conducted in 2015–16. The effective sample size for the present paper 699,686 women aged 15–49 years in India. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate analysis were used to do the preliminary analysis. Additionally, binary logistic regression analysis was used to fulfil the objectives. Results: About 1.6% of women had multimorbidity in India. The prevalence of multimorbidity was high among women from southern region of India. Women who smoke tobacco, chew tobacco and consume alcohol had 87% [AOR: 1.87CI: 1.65, 2.10], 18% [AOR: 1.18; CI: 1.10, 1.26] and 18% [AOR: 1.18; CI: 1.04, 1.33] significantly higher likelihood to suffer from multi-morbidity than their counterparts respectively. Population Attributable Risk for women who smoke tobacco was 1.2% (p<0.001), chew tobacco was 0.2% (p<0.001) and it was 0.2% (p<0.001) among women who consumed alcohol. Conclusion: The findings indicate the important role of lifestyle and behavioural factors such as smoking and chewing tobacco and consuming alcohol in the prevalence of multimorbidity among adult Indian women. The subgroups identified as at increased risk in the present study can be targeted while making policies and health decisions and appropriate comorbidity management can be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues To review the burden of alcohol use in India, examine current policy initiatives and programs specific to India and provide a roadmap for future actions. Approach: A literature search was undertaken to review available published research papers, unpublished reports and anecdotal media information in the period 2000–2020 to assess the burden and pattern of alcohol use and appraise alcohol control policies in India. Key Findings: The per‐capita alcohol consumption among individuals aged 15+ years was 5.7 L, which increased over time. Prevalence of alcohol use varied across states with considerable impact on the nation. Regulatory policies and alcohol control programs vary across Indian states, with poor enforcement and implementation. Taxation and pricing policies are revenue oriented. Policies are needed to address the aggressive and innovative marketing strategies of the alcohol industry. The system for regular monitoring of alcohol burden and conducting alcohol policy analysis needs strengthening. Implications: Alcohol use and its public health impact would continue to increase in India in the absence of effective policy and programs; the country may not achieve its stated goal of relative reduction of alcohol use prevalence by 10% by 2025. Conclusion: The prevailing alcohol control policies and programs in India have been less than fully effective in controlling the burden of alcohol use and its associated impact. There is a need for comprehensive, evidence‐based and consensus‐driven national alcohol control policy to appropriately guide and support the Indian states in regulating alcohol and reducing the associated burden. Effective implementations of such policies are central to its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urban, middle-class Indians are a market demographic target of transnational alcohol companies seeking to exploit neoliberal-informed deregulation policies. Against this backdrop is an emerging drinking culture in Mumbai, in which women participate.Method: An ethnography with a friendship group of five middle-class, heterosexually-identified women aged between 22-24 years living in Mumbai. Poststructuralist informed analysis was performed on data from market mapping and venue mapping activities, interviews and participant observations.Results: A range of on and offline corporate marketing practices facilitated an understanding of drinking as a cool practice of freedom, individualism and equality. Participants' echoed this sense making, but they also described their drinking as occurring in a wider context of gendered inequality and national identities that made them vulnerable to sexual harassment and being 'against Indian culture'.Conclusions: This paper is the first to examine how a group of women make sense of their participation in an emerging Indian drinking culture, the wider material and discursive contexts enabling this sense-making, and the consequences for who and how such women can be in the world. The study highlights important similarities between this emerging drinking culture and the culture of intoxication documented in countries with a drinking culture norm. It also highlights the potential impact of the deregulation of alcohol sales and new marketing policies on groups of Indian women; and shows the importance of taking an intersectional approach that considers the interplay of gendered and national identities when analysing the impact of alcohol marketing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether raising the price of addictive goods can reduce its burden is widely debated in many countries, largely due to lack of appropriate data and robust methods. Three key concerns frequently raised in the literature are: unobserved heterogeneity; omitted variables; identification problem. Addressing these concerns, using robust instrument and employing unique individual-level panel data from Indian Punjab, this paper investigates two related propositions (i) will increase in alcohol price reduce its burden (ii) since greater incomes raise the costs of inebriation, will higher incomes affect consumption of alcohol negatively. Distinct from previous studies, the key variable of interest is the budget share of alcohol that allows studying the burden of alcohol consumption on drinker's and also on other family members. Results presented show that an increase in alcohol price is likely to be regressive, especially on the bottom quartile, with a rise in the budget share of alcohol given budget constraint. This outcome is robust to different econometric specifications. Preliminary explorations suggest that higher per capita income increases the odds of quitting drinking. Results reported have wider implications for the effective design of addiction related health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:With changing attitudes to alcohol and an increasing life span in India, the prevalence of alcohol use and misuse in successive cohorts of older people is likely to increase. In this paper, we attempt to review the most recent evidence covering alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders in the Indian elderly. Methods:PubMed, PsycINFO and Indmed databases were searched using relevant keywords. Papers meeting eligibility criteria were selected through a sequential process of screening title, abstract and full text. Data were extracted into Excel sheets. Results:There was a dearth of pan-national studies. There were several methodological issues with many studies especially related to measurement. A substantial proportion of individuals above the age of 50 years are current consumers of alcohol and the prevalence is generally higher in urban compared to rural areas. Older women are generally likely to be alcohol abstainers. The general trend appears to be a reduction in current drinking among successive age cohorts over the age of 50. Alcohol consumption in the older adults is associated with educational status, health status, chronic morbidity, employment status, socioeconomic status, auditory/locomotor impairment and asthma. Conclusion:Alcohol use and misuse is a problem among the Indian older adults. With socio-demographic changes that will further increase longevity, this problem is likely to increase and policy-makers need to plan for it. Future research needs to improve validity and reliability in study methodology, as well as add to the current evidence base. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fuel ethanol use is being encouraged in many countries, including India, to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and to reduce local pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to provide support to stagnating sugarcane-based industries. Indian public policy is to use a blend of 10% ethanol with petrol within the next few years. This translates into a large requirement for fuel ethanol. This paper examines the potential suitability of various carbohydrate-based agri-resources for ethanol production in India, and the resources required for this in different agroclimatic regions. The results show that sugarcane has the highest ethanol potential, followed by cassava, potato and cereals. On the basis of growing time (days) in the field, however, the large differences among crops disappear and their ranking at state and district level also changes. It was calculated that the biomass as well as land requirement for fuel ethanol for 2010–11 in India would be small, taking into account the total food grain production and land used for agriculture. Utilization of only 3–7 million tons of damaged food grains or surplus food stocks could meet the requirement for fuel ethanol up to 2010. This may, however, involve trade-offs with food security. Agricultural residues, especially rice straw, currently burnt in north-western India, and causing air pollution and global warming, could be a useful and cheap resource, if the technology for cellulose conversion is made available and is cost-effective. A proper auditing of costs involved in producing biomass for gasohol, their implications for energy security and the environment, and trade-offs with food security is required for policy consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]