The Medical students’ smoking rate in North-West of Iran

Background: Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for the global burden of diseases,especially for chronic diseases like cancers, stroke, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.Smoking is an act that commonly initiate in young ages or adolescence. Medical students are asensitive population as they will be the providers of heath services and on the other hand, areconsidered as role models for other youngers in the community. The aim of this study was todetermine the current status of smoking pattern among medical students in North-West of Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in ۲۰۱۸ in Tabriz city in North-West of Iran.We asked about the smoking status from ۵۰۰ medical students of Tabriz University of MedicalScience by a anonymous checklist consisted of demographic characteristics including age, gender,and marital status. The data of current use of cigarette was collected. Data were analyzed using theSPSS software version ۱۶. We used the logistic regression to determine the association of smokingwith demographic factors. A p-value of less than ۰.۰۵ was set significant.Results: The mean (SD) of age for participants was ۲۳.۸۵ (۲.۳۶) years, ranging from ۱۸ to ۳۴years. In total, ۹۴ (۱۸.۸۸%) of participants reported smoking cigarette for one or more than oneday during the past month. Males were significantly more likely to smoke than females with a rateof ۳۵.۸۱%, versus ۴.۱۲% (OR: ۱۲.۹۸, ۹۵%CI: ۶.۷۰-۲۵.۱۴). The logistic regression showed that therisk of smoking was increased by advancing the age by ۱۶ percent per year of age (OR:۱.۱۶,۹۵%CI: ۱.۰۵-۱.۲۸). Marital tatus was not related to the smoking status.Conclusions: We can conclude that that about one-fifth of medical students were cigarettesmokers. Although medical students are informed about the consequences of smoking, they maystill start this act and get more with advancing the age. This may be relatively related to the peergroupeffect since it was reported by a considerable number of students as the main motivator. Itseems crucial to deliver appropriate interventions to screen and help the students in cessation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Smoking ، Prevalence ، Student ، Gender ، Epidemiology.