Smoking pattern among adults in Al-Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of smoking is high and should be considered as a warning for the coming epidemic. This study aimed to describe the pattern (proportion, common types, and the possible risk factors) of smoking among adults male students’ families in Al-Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Methodology: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Diriyah in governmental and private schools. Al-Diriyah is a town in Saudi Arabia located on the north-western outskirts of Riyadh. The data were collected from 200 adult males by convenience sampling method. Results: The proportion of current smokers was 90% among elementary education, 23% in intermediate, 24% in high school, and 17% in university-educated. This decline across different education levels was statistically significant. The proportion of cigarette smokers were 28% and shisha smokers were 13% distributed among different education levels. This shows that the most common type of smoking is cigarette than shisha. The proportion of adults who said that their friends smoke around them was 77%, a sibling or father was 36%, and a teacher was 29%. This shows that friends feels comfortable to smoke around each compared to family members. Conclusion: University-educated people were found to have the lowest among current smokers. Also, cigarette smoking was found as the most common type among adults males. Finally, friends were likely to influence a nonsmoker to smoke.