Prevalence and distribution of behavioural risk factors for non communicable diseases among students in 15 to 25 year age group in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) refer to a group of conditions that result in long-term health consequences and create a need for long-term treatment and care. In addition to the affliction and tragedy of pre-mature illness and death, these diseases extract a growing toll on the economy. They are costly to diagnose and even more expensive to treat, leading to heavy economic burden. These can be prevented by reducing the risk factors like tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Methods: Present cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 students hailing from different regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, in the age group of 15-25 years, studying in various schools, colleges in Jammu city and the university of Jammu. Stratified systematic sampling technique was used to select equal number of male and female students from equal number of government and private institutes. Results: The 36% and 9.33% of the students were taking inadequate servings of fruits and vegetables respectively. 45.33% and 65%of students consume salty and sweet snack food, respectively. Nine percent students are physically inactive, 69.33% and 21.66% of students engage in moderate and vigorous activities, respectively. Prevalence of students smoking tobacco and consumption of smokeless tobacco is 11.33% and 2%. The 24.66% of the students consume alcohol. Conclusions: The study showed a generalized increased in prevalence of all risk factors with advancing age which indicates the importance of generating awareness on the risk factors leading to non-communicable disease early in adolescence.