Prevalence and Contributing Factors of Smoking among Undergraduates in Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking is one of the most common preventable causes of death globally, contributing significantly to the global burden of diseases, especially chronic non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancers, and stroke. It is a known fact that cigarette smoking is harmful and addictive, but very few pay attention to its deadly results.The study was conducted to assess the prevalence and contributing factors for smoking among undergraduates. Methods: The purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects. Total 220 undergraduates were choosen and a self–administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: The respondents at around 70.0% were of age less than 21 whereas 30.0 % were of age more than 21. The mean age was 21.01±1years. More than half (54.08%) of the respondents were female, while 45.09% were male. The majority (92.72%) of the respondents belonged to the Hindu religion. Regarding ethnicity, 70.93% of the respondents were from the upper caste, while less than 1.36% belonged to religious minorities.The prevalence of smoking was found to be 15.0%. Among 67.16% of the respondents initiated smoking at the age of 15-20 years. Maximum 56.71% bought smoking agents from their own pocket money. The major influencing factors for smoking were experimentation i.e. 46.26%, followed by peer pressure, 25.37%. The variables such as sex, age, religion, and educational status of a mother were found to be associated with smoking. Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking among college students is low. Among them who smoke, majority of the students started smoking as experimentation and peer pressure.Strict laws against smoking should be formulated and implemented effectively. Awareness programs should be carried out focusing on harmful effects of smoking.