Smoking Habits of King Saud University Students in Abha, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background:The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of smoking among university students of King Saud University in Abha City, to determine ecological factors for the problem, and to assess the students' knowledge about the health effects of smoking, and attitudes towards public action against smoking. Materials and Methods: All medical students at the University College of Medicine (MC) (n=202), and a representative sample of students of the College of Education (CE) (n=300), were subjected to a modified Arabic version of the World Health Organization standard questionnaire for young people to study their knowledge, attitudes and practices of smoking. Results: The study revealed the following results among students of the CE and those of the MC, respectively. Prevalence of regular smoking (17.5% vs. 13.6%; P=0.25); heavy smokers (39.5% vs. 27.8%; P=0.38); smokers of moderate-to high-nicotine yield (92.7% vs. 50%, P=0.0004), and tar yield (48.8% vs. 16.7%, P=0.02). Curiosity was the main reason for initiation of smoking (41.2% vs. 51.9%), followed by the desire to show off (27.5% vs. 51.9%, P=0.03), and peer pressure (27.5% vs. 7.4%, P=0.04). Friends were the main source of the first cigarette (53.1% vs. 55.6%), followed by parents (2% vs. 40.7%, P=0.0001). Most students were knowledgeable about smoking and had favorable attitudes against it. However, MC students were significantly more knowledgeable than those of the CE. Conclusion: Smoking still constitutes a major problem among university students in Abha, in spite of their knowledge of its hazards. This may be due to the addictive effect of smoking, peer pressure, negative parental attitudes and other reasons. There is a need to implement an anti-smoking program for college students, and possibly legislation to limit the amount of tar and nicotine in cigarettes.

Smoking habits and attitudes among university students in Palestine: a cross-sectional study

“…We have no explanation for the intermediate risk in students in the science schools. Similar findings were observed in a Saudi study in Abha that compared smoking between college of education and college of medicine students [15], and a Syrian study that found that the rate of smoking was lower among medical students [19].…”

“…These figures are higher than the PCBS estimates of the proportion of smokers in the general Palestinian population which was 19.8% (37.0% among males and 2.2% among females) [8]. Compared with university students in Arab countries, our Palestinian students had a higher rate compared with Jordanian (28.6%) [14] and Saudi (17.5%) students [15] but lower than Lebanese (40%) students [16].…”

Knowledge and Practice towards Lung Cancer among University Students

“…For multivariate analysis, only types of faculty significantly influence the knowledge of the university students towards lung cancer (p=0.001). Medicine students had greater knowledge about lung cancer than did those in other specialties because of the emphasis of their curricula on health information, as was also noted by Abolfotouh et al [66].…”

Prevalence of smoking in a rural community of Bangladesh

“…This study shows that, smoking practice was more common in low and middle-income, and illiterate group which was reveled in other studies. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] As the age increased, having higher education and economic stability, the impact of smoking prevalence might be fallen. This study showed in Figure 1 and 2 that the intensity of smoking has been decreasing with age and good economic status.…”