Smoking practices among medical students of Jamnagar.

ABSTRACT

Background: College students may start smoking when they are away from family or with peer pressure or as a curiosity. This is the commonest time to habit formation. Objectives: To study practices of smoking and behavior changes in medical student and to find out factors associated with smoking. Material and Methods: A Cross study was conducted among the 200 medical students of Shri M.P.Shah Medical College, Jamnagar from different batches who were ready to participate and to give response. Study period was15/01/2007 to 30/01/2007 by pretested oral questionnaire method. Statistical analysis was done by excel software. Results: 18.5% students were smoker, 67.55% smokers’ fathers were smoking, and 56.75% of student had history of smoking for more than 6 months. Peers played a major role in initiation of smoking in 70.27% of smokers. 54.05% of students started smoking to relieve exam stress. 56.75% students wanted to quit smoking. Increased smoking frequency was observed in 78.37% students during exam periods. Conclusions: Smoking was significant problem among the male medical students and usually started by peer pressure or family history or exam stress.