"Introduction: Smokeless tobacco is the term used for the tobacco that is consumed in un-burnt form and it can be used orally or nasally. Mishri (masheri or misheri) is one of the smokeless tobacco used as dentifrice. It has been observed that smoking during pregnancy is associated with anaemia in mothers & their babies. Objective of the study was to assess the magnitude of anaemia among users & nonusers of mishri & correlation with cotinine levels in the blood.
Methods: A comparative study was conducted at Krishna hospital, Karad in 2011 among delivered women using and not using mishri. Blood levels of Haemoglobin & cotinine were estimated.
Results: The mean Hb% was found significantly lower among users compared to nonusers of Mishri during pregnancy (t= -8.16, p=0.001) whereas no significant difference was found in calorie consumption & iron intake among both groups. There is a significant Negative Correlation (r= -0418, p=0.01) between Cotinine levels in the blood and Haemoglobin level among users of Mishri.
Conclusion: There is a need to find out effects of smokeless tobacco use during pregnancy and pathophysiology of anaemia among users of smokeless form of tobacco."
Key words: Mishri, Anaemia, Cotinine, Correlation
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