) India is among the top countries with 90% of the world’s chewing tobacco-related health burden, and South Asia is the “epicentre” of chewing tobacco, according to new research published in The Lancet Global Health journal.
Stroke and lip and oral cavity cancer were found to comprise much of the health loss attributable to chewing tobacco use globally. Researchers estimated that chewing tobacco contributed to 251,000 deaths globally in 2023 — there were 241 million chewing tobacco users globally, with use peaking among individuals 60 to 64 years old, they said. The analysis, part of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 (GBD 2023) and covering 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023, distinguishes the burden of chewing tobacco from that of other forms of smokeless tobacco, the team said. The region accounted for 2,10,000 chewing tobacco-related deaths — about 84% of the global total, the study estimated.
“Chewing tobacco is not a uniform public health problem, and our findings show that a relatively small number of countries bear an overwhelming share of its health burden,” lead author Gabriela Gil, research scientist at Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US, said. The researchers said despite decades of progress in tobacco control, the global prevalence of chewing tobacco use has remained relatively unchanged. The researchers said the figures reflect total deaths and disability, meaning countries with larger populations may account for a greater share of the burden even if their rates are not the highest.
