Cigarette Smoking among Medical Students from the Western Balkan

Abstract

University student’s smoking is a significant public health problem. It is estimated that, globally, every fifth medical student is a smoker. So far, no research dealing with cigarette smoking among medical students has been conducted in the countries of the Western Balkans. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors of cigarette smoking among Western Balkans medical students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2452 students from 14 medical faculties in the Western Balkans (Republic of Slovenia, Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia and Republic of Serbia). The data were gathered through an online survey. There were significantly more non-smokers than smokers among medical students. Only gender and parents smoking status were statistically significantly associated with students smoking status. The smokers were more often male students, who lived in urban areas prior their studies, and whose parents were both smokers. With the aim of monitoring and enhancing student population health, it is necessary for public health activists and health officials to continually survey the students’ smoking status in order to recognize the smoking influencing factors, and form and take on appropriate activities to improve the prevention of cigarette smoking among students, as well as motivate those who smoke to give up smoking, which would contribute to improving the health of the student population.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Physical Activity among Medical Students from the Western Balkans

“…Since the faculties were not randomly selected, the obtained results cannot be generalized to all students of medical faculties in the Western Balkans. For us, it was not possible to give precise numbers (response rate) of students from each faculty at the period of study performing, but the percentage of included students of all individual faculties definitly surpasses a representative 10% [62].…”

Motives and Barriers for Regular Physical Activity among Medical Students from the Western Balkans (South-East Europe Region)

“…Our research indicates that students who are non-smokers stated the desire to feel better, reduce stress, and to look better, as motives for regular PA, more often than smokers. Smoking has been a significant public health problem among adolescents and college students [ 47 , 48 ]. Among global medical students, it is estimated that one in five students smoke [ 47 , 48 ].…”

“…Smoking has been a significant public health problem among adolescents and college students [ 47 , 48 ]. Among global medical students, it is estimated that one in five students smoke [ 47 , 48 ]. The result of a study conducted in the Western Balkans, on smoking among medical students, shows that the percentage of smokers is significantly lower than that of non-smokers [ 48 ].…”

“…Among global medical students, it is estimated that one in five students smoke [ 47 , 48 ]. The result of a study conducted in the Western Balkans, on smoking among medical students, shows that the percentage of smokers is significantly lower than that of non-smokers [ 48 ]. In parallel, the results of our study show that non-smokers had significantly higher motives (to feel better, reduce stress, and to look better), in regular PA.…”

“…Finally, medical faculties were selected, using the convenience sampling method and were not randomly selected, so the obtained results cannot be generalized to all Western Balkan medical students. Although we were unable to gather the exact numbers (response rate) of the enrolled students at the period of the study conduction, the percentage of students from all of individual faculties exceeds a representative 10% [ 9 , 48 ].…”