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Original Article

IJMDC. 2020; 4(8): 1108-1111


The proportion of smoking among medical students of Al-Maarefa University in Diriyah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fahad Mohammed Alotaibi, Mohammad Abdullah Alkharfi, Abdulrahman Mohammed Alhumoud, Ammar Azzam Murshid, Majed Abdullah Alharbi, Abdullah Talal Almutairi, Abdulaziz Saud Alshabanat, Nasser Faleh Alqahtani, Abdulrhman Hmoud Alotaibi, Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Nami.




Abstract

Background: Cigarette smoking by inhalation of burnt tobacco is one of the greatest single causes of illness and premature death worldwide. Furthermore, smoking could result in premature death due to cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary, and heart diseases. Long-term smokers had less life expectancy of 10 years less than that of non-smokers. The current study was aimed to determine the proportion of smokers among medical students at Al-Maarefa university to identify reasons for its initiation.
Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study conducted among male medical students involving a total sample of 106 medical students. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire developed after referring to the literature available and consultation with epidemiologist about smoking status and reasons for initiation in the study population. Data were analyzed using SPSS with a p-value of less than 0.05 considered significant.
Results: Among the total, 35% of the sample were current smokers, occasional smokers were 17%, while passive and non-smoker were 48%. The higher proportion of smoking onset was at the age of 14 years old, which represented 61% of the study subjects. The father had the highest influence on the increased ability of smoking than their respective sons by 86.4% with a p-value of 0.0952. Moreover, 47% smoked their first cigarette within the first hour of the day. The percentage of smokers living outside the family represented 71.5%.
Conclusion: High proportion of smoking was found among medical students. This finding needs urgent attention and multi-disciplinary action in terms of health education activities from concerned authorities. However, 14 years of age was found as the most important age period to be targeted for such health education programs.

Key words: Smoking, medical student, Al-Maarefa university






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