Abstract
BackgroundTobacco smoking is one of the greatest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality globally, and is responsible for many causes of untimely deaths. This survey was aimed to determine prevalence and factors associated with current smoking among the students of College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was employed using a structured self-administered questionnaire among College of Health Sciences students in March 2013. A stratified random sampling method was employed to select study participants. Data were entered and analysed using of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.ResultsOf the 193 students, 57 (29.5%) of the students were current smokers. Most of the current smokers (89.4%) smoked between 1–10 sticks of cigarette per day. The two main reasons cited for smoking cigarettes were peer pressure (43.9%) and to relieve stress (36.8%). Being female (adjusted OR [AOR] = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.95) and Tigre by ethnicity (AOR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.74) were significantly less associated with current smoking. On the other hand, being second year students (AOR = 3.84; 95% CI: 1.41, 10.46), khat chewing (AOR = 8.36; 95% CI: 2.60, 26.85) and taking illicit drugs (AOR = 10.59; 95% CI: 2.77, 40.51) were positively associated with current smoking cigarettes.ConclusionsThe current smoking prevalence among students in College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University is high and therefore, effective smoking prevention and cessation intervention programs are required to reduce smoking among university students.
Highlights
Tobacco smoking is one of the greatest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality globally, and is responsible for many causes of untimely deaths [1]
Sociodemographic characteristics There were a total number of 193 respondents included in the present work
The majority (64.8%) of the students were Tigre by ethnicity and 63.2% of the students getting greater than 500 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) monthly from their families
Summary
Tobacco smoking is one of the greatest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality globally, and is responsible for many causes of untimely deaths [1]. Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, peptic ulcer disease, intrauterine growth retardation, spontaneous abortion, antepartum hemorrhage, female infertility, sexual dysfunction in men, and many other diseases [2] It has become a rapidly growing problem of public health concern as it has been calculated that nearly a third of the world’s population, aged 15 years above, are smokers [3]. Tobacco smoking is one of the greatest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality globally, and is responsible for many causes of untimely deaths This survey was aimed to determine prevalence and factors associated with current smoking among the students of College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
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