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Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of future dentists of the United Arab Emirates on risk and non-risk factors for oral cancers and correlate it with their own tobacco use, whether they assess their patients' tobacco use and their opinion about the relation of oral cancer and smokeless tobacco use. Methods A total of 270, first- to fifth-year undergraduate dental students who consented to participate in the study filled in a questionnaire enquiring about their knowledge of oral cancer risk factors. A score of oral cancer risk factor knowledge was calculated for each participant based on their correct answers. Results Eighty-three per cent of participants identified the use of tobacco as a risk factor for oral cancer, 52% identified old age, 45.6% knew about low consumption of fruits and vegetables and 74.4% of students could correctly identify use of alcohol as a risk factor for oral cancer. A significant association was found between being a current and previous tobacco user and having low knowledge of risk factors score (P = 0.015). No significant associations were found between the year of study in the dental college, gender, nationality and knowledge of oral cancer risk factor scores. Conclusion This study showed an apparent lack of knowledge of oral cancer risk factors among dental students that may later result in a deficiency in integrating optimal oral cancer diagnostic procedures in their practices. There is an urgent need to enhance the oral cancer curricula in oral cancer education and clinical training in oral cancer prevention and examination for dental students.

Healthcare.gov was created to facilitate the market for non-group insurance in states that did not establish their own marketplaces. In Healthcare.gov, families are asked to report their tobacco use status, and tobacco use surcharges of up to 50% may result. We tabulate enrollment information for 35 states offering insurance plans through Healthcare.gov in both 2014 and 2016. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided counts of enrollees indicating tobacco use, by state, year, and risk level. The number of enrollees increased from 5.0 million in 2014 to 9.4 million in 2016. From 2014 to 2016, the number of enrollees rose 39% for tobacco users and 90% for non-tobacco users. Reported non-tobacco user enrollment rose faster than reported tobacco user enrollment in 30 out of 35 states. Reported tobacco users are enrolling in marketplace plans at a lower rate and are more likely to enroll in less generous plans. The decline in smoking as reported when purchasing insurance on Healthcare.gov surpasses declines in smoking observed in other data sources, which suggests that tobacco users may be decreasingly likely to report their tobacco use status accurately to avoid surcharges. Finally, we find no evidence of the surcharges being associated with lower enrollment among self-reported tobacco users, or in rates of smoking.

Background India has consequential burden of tobacco related disease and death. Though there are surveys conducted at national and regional level yet the information about tobacco consumption among army personnel is scarce. Thus an epidemiological study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and assess determinants of tobacco consumption amongst army personnel. Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted using simple random sampling to enroll 380 personnel. Data was collected using a pretested and validated questionnaire with relevant domains. Results The age of participants was 33 + 7 years. The prevalence of ever tobacco users was 47.90% (95% CI: 42.78–53.05) and of current tobacco users was 35.00% (95% CI: 30.21–40.03). No association was found between ever users and age group, monthly income, occupation, length of service, family member usage (p > 0.05). Among smokeless tobacco forms, Khaini was most preferred (49.45%) followed by Gutkha. Majority of them (41.21%) were moderate tobacco chewers. Tobacco user friends (53.85%) were the main stimulants, which induced respondents to start tobacco. The important source of tobacco procurement was local vendor. 91.76% ever user were aware of the ill-effects of the tobacco use. There was statistically significant association for knowledge regarding tobacco use being harmful to family members between current users and ever users (p = 0.036). Conclusion The study highlights a high prevalence of tobacco user amongst army personnel. Reduction of easy accessibility, Behaviour Change Communication activities and stricter implementation of regulations are urgently required.