Estimating the prevalence of high-risk behaviors using network scale-up method in medical university students

There is not much information about high‑risk behaviors in young groups, especially students. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of high‑risk behaviors in students of universities of medical sciences in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, by network scale‑up (NSU) method.

This cross‑sectional study was performed on 450 students from the universities of medical sciences. A researcher‑developed checklist was used to collect the data. We considered number 16 for the social network size of students according to a previous study. Based on the response of individuals to each of the high‑risk behaviors (including cigarette smoking, hookah use, opium consumption, alcohol drinking, tramadol/ecstasy taking, and extramarital sex) in their social network, the prevalence of these behaviors was estimated. The required calculations were performed using the NSU method. Furthermore, 95% uncertainty interval (UI) was calculated using the bootstrap method.

Totally, 196 (44%) participants were male. The mean age (standard deviation) of the participants was 22 ± 2 years. Results showed that hookah use (20% 95% UI [18.9–21.1]) and opium consumption (0.4% 95% UI [0.24–0.6]) had the highest and lowest frequencies, respectively. Cigarette smoking (17% 95% UI [15.8–18]), alcohol use (8.3% 95% UI [7.5–9.1]), extramarital sex (8.2% 95% UI [7.4–9]), and tramadol/ecstasy taking (4% 95% UI [6.4–4.6]) were the next most common high‑risk behaviors, respectively.

Given that hookah use and cigarette smoking are the most common high‑risk behaviors in students, especially males, appropriate cultural activities and educational programs should be employed by relevant authorities to reduce these behaviors.