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Objectives: The current article reviews alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking amongst South Asian Indians in Britain. Inequalities due to income, health economics and social issues amongst different groups of Indians are explored.

Data sources & study selection: Articles from PubMed, Medline and WHO databases were sought. ICF criteria were applied for selection of articles: impact factors; rated by relevance; criteria for selection (appropriateness of methodology; adequacy of subject numbers; specificity of sex and/or age of subjects; and statistically significant response rates to survey questionnaires); time frame of 1990-2007.

Results: Out of a total of 122 articles, 112 were accepted and 85 utilised.

Alcohol & tobacco usage in South Asian Indians vs. Whites: In 1999, the incidence of drinking more than 21 and 14 units of alcohol per week amongst Indians in Britain was 14% in men and 2% in women, respectively. This was considerably less that equivalent consumption in the general population of 30% and 18%, respectively. In 1999, the incidence of cigarette smoking and the use of tobacco products amongst Indians included 23% of men smoking cigarettes and 5% using tobacco products, and 6% of women smoking cigarettes and 2% tobacco products. The overall prevalence of tobacco use was 32% amongst men and 27% amongst women in the general population, respectively.

Interventions: Studies of populations of South Asian Indians from lower social groups with larger numbers of samples resident in Britain should help to confirm associations between health and alcohol and/or tobacco smoking.

Conclusion: Research is required to …