Smoking addiction among university students in Istanbul

Abstract

In this study, we investigated smoking addiction and some risk factors among university students in Istanbul. A questionnaire survey of 236 university students studying in Istanbul Medical Faculty (n: 148) and other faculties (n: 88) was performed with cross-sectional and responding-under-observation methods in March-May 1999. Thirty-six per cent of the university students with mean age 24.0 (2.9 were addicted to smoking (n: 85): 41.3% males and 26.7% females; 67.5% were using imported and 32.5% were using local product cigarettes. Of the subjects, 18.1% were smoking 1-10 cigarettes a day, 61.4% 11-20 cigarettes a day and 20.5% more than 20 cigarettes a day. When alcohol and smoking addiction were compared with logistic regression analysis, with respect to gender, age, school, parents' educational levels, living style and the sources of income, the risk factor for alcohol addicts was found to be more 2.54 times than smoking addicts (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.38-4.67; p = 0.003). The study has emphasized the association of alcohol and smoking addiction in university students and the prevalence of smoking addiction among adolescent females.