The trends of tobacco use among medical and non medical students in District Bannu

Abstract

Background: Tobacco use is the leading and preventable cause of death in the World. This study was conducted to find out the trends of tobacco use among medical and non-medical students in District Bannu of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.

Material & Methods: This cross sectional observational study was conducted in Bannu Medical College and University of Science & Technology Bannu from 16th March 2011 to 15th June 2011. Questionnaires were randomly distributed among the students of medical college and university. These were collected and checked for missing information and wrong entries. No name, address or other identity was mentioned in the proforma.

Results: A total of 244 questionnaires were filled. Non responders were excluded and the remaining 227 were included in the study, 120 in medical and 107 in non medical group with females 44 in medical and 39 in non medical. Mean age was 23±4 years. Tobacco users in medical group were 14.5% male and 2.3% female while in non-medical students these were 20.6% male and 2.5% female . The main contributing factor was the bad company and its use was started in the college in 75% of the medical and 53.3% of the non medical group.

Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking is higher in the non-medical students than the medical students. The female population is less affected than the male and the etiological factors were mainly stress and bad company.