Determinants and Prevalence of Tobacco Smoking among Medical Students at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Tobacco smoking has a significant role in health deterioration worldwide; it can lead to many dangerous diseases. Tobacco smoking among medical students is common worldwide, but the prevalence and determinants vary from one community to another. Data from medical students in Saudi Arabia is limited. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and determinants of smoking among medical students at the College of Medicine, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study using a self-administered electronic survey was conducted to estimate tobacco smoking’s prevalence and characteristics among medical students at Jazan University. The survey includes information on the gender, academic year, academic performance, type of tobacco smoking, and age of onset of the participants’ tobacco smoking. Other data, like the prevalence of passive smoking and social factors, were considered, too. The sample size was 354, 51.7% males and 48.3% females, students with a response rate of 38.02%. The prevalence of smoking among medical students was 12.4%, while passive smoking prevalence was 39.9% of all medical students. The research shows that 18.6% of male and 5.9% of female medical students were active smokers. Regarding the type of tobacco, we found that 47% of male smokers used waterpipe, while the percentage among female smokers using waterpipe reached 77.8%. The age of onset of smoking for 34.9% of the smokers was between 18 and 21 years old. The prevalence of smoking is inversely proportional to the GPA. Additionally, 71.1% of the smokers did not have a smoker friend, and only 13.3% of the smokers were motivated to quit. University age is critical for smoking habits, and the smoking cessation rate was low. More campaigns should be done in universities to increase smoking cessation awareness, and smoking cessation clinics should be activated at universities.