Abstract
Objective: To assess trends of smoking and the relation between smoking behavior of undergraduate medical students and their attitudes towards smoking and treatment of tobacco dependence.
Methodology: Data was collected from the preclinical medical students of College of Medicine, King Saud University. A total of 422 male students completed the anonymous questionnaire. Response rate was 88.3%.
Results: Of the respondents 17.53% and 82.46% were regular smokers and non-smokers respectively. Only 29.72% of the regular smokers smoke less than ten cigarettes, 28.37% smoke ten to twenty cigarettes whereas, 41.89% smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day. 48.67% started smoking at nineteen years of age, 16.2% started before this age and 21.62% and 13.51% started at twenty and twenty one years of ages respectively. 78.37% started smoking just for pleasure. Only 29.72% smoke light cigarettes whereas 33.78% and 36.48% smoke medium and heavy cigarettes respectively. Almost 78.37% smokers agreed with the fact that smoking is harmful to health and 21.62% realized that their cigarette smoke bother others and again 78.37% of smokers have attempted to quit smoking but failed and 35.13% still wanted to quit smoking. About 83.78% of smokers complained that they suffer from chronic cough, 56.75% were lacking concentration in their studies and 41.89% felt that they were short of memory.
Conclusions: Attitudes of smokers were significantly different on most items of tobacco, but knowledge of tobacco problem in the undergraduate medical students was not sufficient. Teaching about tobacco and related issues remains essential in the undergraduate medical course.