Abstract

COMPARISON OF INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AMONG TOBACCO USERS AND NON – TOBACCO USERS – A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Dr. V. Aravinth, Dr. M. B. Aswath Narayanan, BSc, MDS., Dr. S. G. Ramesh Kumar, Dr. A. Leena Selvamary., MDS and *Dr. A. Sujatha., MDS,

Abstract

Background: Most of the previous studies reveal that prenatal exposure of tobacco influences the cognitive ability of the children. There are limited studies assessing the association between intellectual capacity and nicotine among adults in Indian population. The aim of the present study was to compare the Intellectual Capacity (IC) and addiction levels among tobacco users and non-tobacco users at a public hospital in Chennai city. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty participants aged 18 to 40 years were recruited for the present study. Among them, 75 participants constituted the study group and 75 participants constituted the control group. The selected study participants were divided into three sub groups I, II and III, each group consisting of 25 participants. Participants who were using smoking form of tobacco were recruited in to Group I, participants who were using smokeless form of tobacco to Group II, participants who were using both (smoking and smokeless) form of tobacco to Group III. The level of tobacco addiction for study population (Group- I, Group- II, Group- III) was assessed by Fagerstrom addiction scale. Intellectual capacity level in study group and control group was assessed using Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM). Results: Majority of the participants had very low dependence in Group – I (68%) and group – II (48%). In Group- III, most of the participants had medium dependence (52% for smoking and 68% for smokeless form of tobacco) and none of the participants had very high dependence. The difference in IC between tobacco users and non-tobacco users was not statistically significant (P >0.05). There was weak correlation between IC and level of dependence on tobacco for smoking form (r = - 0.093), smokeless form (r = - 0.037). Conclusion: The present study concluded that there was no significant difference in the intellectual capacity between tobacco users and non-tobacco users.

Keywords: Level of dependence, Intellectual Capacity, Ravens Progressive Matrices, Fagerstorms addiction scale, Tobacco users.