Prevalence of Smoking and Factors Influencing Smoking in the Students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd-Iran

The most important step in controlling smoking is to know the factors related to smoking. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of smoking and factors related to smoking among students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences.

This cross-sectional study was carried out on 250 students of Yazd University of Medical Sciences. In the present study, subjects were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected through a valid questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test, descriptive statistics, and logistic regression in SPSS version 24.0 at a significance level of P < 0.05.

In the present study, the prevalence of smoking and history of the consumption of narcotics was determined to be 19.2% and 69.2%, respectively. The most important factor related to smoking was unemployment (31.25%) but the main motivation for smoking was entertainment (31.25%). According to the results of logistic regression analysis, it can be said that male gender (OR = 9.25), being non-native (OR = 13.01), living in a rented house (OR = 15.96), Kurdish ethnicity (OR = 6.94), having a smoking father (OR = 4.42), and having a smoking mother (OR = 25.5) were the most important risk factors for smoking among students.

Given the high prevalence of smoking and awareness of factors related to smoking among medical sciences students as messengers of health, providing the amenities and comfort, holding workshops on life skills, and establishing consulting centers are necessary to decrease the social and medical burden of smoking.