Smoking Prevalence Among Celal Bayar University Faculty of Medicine
Abstract
Aim: In this cross-sectional study our aim was to determine the smoking prevalence in the students of Celal Bayar University Faculty of Medicine. Material and methods: In the term of 2006-2007 there were 429 students in the faculty of medicine, we applied questionnaires under supervision to 370 students (86.2%) who accepted to participate in the study. For statistical analysis, descriptive statistics and chi-square test was used. Results: The mean age of students was 20.62 +/- 1.83 years, 194 were male (52.4%). Forty five of the students (12.2%) were smoking regularly while 6 of them (1.6%) were occasionalsmokers. The smoking prevalence was higher in males than females (male: 21.1%; female 5.7%; p<0.001). The difference among classes was significant (p<0.001). The main reason for beginning smoking was friends (56.8%). Of the students who have been smoking currently, 20 students (39.2%) wanted to quit smoking, 10 (19.6%) did not and 21 (41.2%) were undecided. Forty of the current smokers (78.4%) had tried to quit smoking previously. Conclusion: It is concluded that medical students with high smoking prevelance should be educated more intensively about tobacco.