The prevalence of tobacco use among health science college students (HSC): Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 The Prevalence of Tobacco Use among Health Science College Students (HSC):  Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 Khalid M. Almutairi¹, Ph. D., Wadi B. Alonazi², MHHA.
Department of Health Services Management.
College of Health Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Objective
We estimated that the prevalence of tobacco use and its extent of personal, social, environmental factors, and the knowledge about the danger of tobacco use among male and female students of Riyadh Health Science College.
Methods:
A questionnaire was conducted on HSC students with a sample of 939 future health technicians aged from 19-25 in 2008. Information about tobacco behavior, social, environmental factors, and the knowledge about the danger of tobacco use were statistically analyzed with SPSS (Version 15).

 Results
32.7% of males and 6% of the females smoked cigarettes.29.3% of males and 5.6% of female smoked sheesha. Almost twenty nine percentage of males tried smoking when they were less than 17 years old, where almost eight percentage of females tried smoking when they were less than 17 years old. 56.1% of friends were found to be smoker. 26.9% smoked a whole packet of cigarettes per a day. 29.5% tried to quit smoking. Friends, free time, and stress were the encouragement factors to smoke. 86.3% of smokers were found to have a sound of knowledge about the harmful of tobacco use.
Conclusion
This is the first known study of cigarettes and sheesha use among HSC students in Riyadh. The high prevalence of cigarette & sheesha smoking & environmental tobacco smoke exposure in the young Saudi population indicates an urgent need for smoking prevention & cessation efforts.  

 

Keywords: behavior, beliefs attitudes, knowledge. Tobacco use

 

 

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Management, College of Health Sciences, Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
²Lecturer, Department of Health Services Management, College of Health Sciences, Riyadh Saudi Arabia.