Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Smoking is considered a major public health problem throughout the world. Although the burden of a disease attributable to smoking occurs among adults yet, the problem originates in the teenage and adolescence when the majority of smokers have their first experience with cigarettes. The objective of this study was to estimate prevalence of cigarette consumption among the University of Sharjah students. 

SETTING: University of Sharjah, Sharjah campus.

PARTICIPANTS: The total undergraduate student population registered at University of Sharjah (UoS) during the period of study.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was followed and included a sample of the University of Sharjah students based on the assumption of a prevalence of 15% and a degree of precision of 5% at the 95% confidence interval for each of the two campuses within the University city (Medical and Health Sciences campus and Non-Medical campus). The designed data collection tool was distributed based on the stratified sampling technique.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence was 28.2% for both sexes. The prevalence of smoking among males accounted for 44.6%, while the prevalence of smoking accounted for 13% in females. The highest percentage of type of smoking was cigarettes 52.2% in males and 78.5% in females followed by medwakh 30.2% in males and water-pipe in females 21.5%. A student at a non-medical college, being a non-national, and having parents who were smokers were the common logistic regression predictors of smoking for both sexes in the sample under study.

CONCLUSION: Tobacco control strategies and preventive measures in the UAE should start as early as preparatory and high school education and be directed towards school students as it seems that the problem is escalating in prevalence and magnitude.

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