Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 160 (C-1998/9)Smoking Habits, Knowledge and Attitudes among HCT and FMHS studentsStudent Authors: Faiza Ahmed, Ghuwayana Al-Neyadi, Jameela Al-KaabiFaculty Supervisors: Dr. M.M. Hossain, Dr. A. BenerAbstract:Aim Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of death. However, theprevalence among adult population in United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not known. Themain aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of smoking habits among HigherCollege of Technology (HCT) and faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences students,and to determine the difference concerning smoking habits knowledge and attitudebetween students HCT and FMHS.Methods This is a descriptive and analytic cross-sectional study conducted at the HCT& FMHS in Al-Ain. A multi-stage sampling technique was used. The data was collectedby self-administered questionnaire. The data from the original questionnaires werecoded, entered, processed and analyzed on an IIBM-PC compatible computer usingSPSS and STATA program.Results The overall prevalence of smoking was 5.7%, and it was higher among HCT(8.0%) students than FMHS students (3.4 %). The prevalence of ex-smokers amongHCT and FMHS students was 5.2% and 5. 1% respectively. The prevalence of neversmoked was 86.8 % among HCT students and 91.5% among FNMS students.Exposure to passive smoking at home of HCT students (50.6%) was higher than thatof FMHS students (32.6%), whereas exposure at college it was of similar percentage.There was clear association between the gender and smoking habit as it was morecommon among male students. The most common reasons for starting smoking wereas follows: pressure from friends, stress, pleasure and stress. The most commonreasons for stopping and not to smoke were health concerns and religious concern.Both groups of students had a quite good knowledge about smoking, but medicalstudents had more detailed information. The attitude toward smoking was nearlysimilar among both two groups.Conclusion The prevalence of smoking was found to be low among the students ingeneral but it was higher among the non-medical (HCT) students than the medical(FMHS) students. The knowledge and attitude toward smoking was nearly the sameamong medical and non-medical students.