Epidemiological study on tobacco smoking among university students in Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic

Abstract

There is a lack of data on tobacco use in the Syrian Arab Republic. This cross-sectional questionnaire survey estimated the prevalence of smoking among university students in Damascus and identified factors related to smoking. Among the 583 respondents, the overall prevalence of cigarette smoking was 20.8%. The mean age of smokers [25 (SD 2.2) years] was significantly higher than non-smokers [21 (SD 1.8) years]. Smoking prevalence among males (26.1%) was significantly higher than among females (9.5%). However, female students consumed a significantly higher number of cigarettes per day than did males [mean 21 (SD 5) versus 9 (SD 2)]. The smoking prevalence among students in non-health faculties (27.8%) was significantly higher than that of health professional students (14.5%) and was higher among students living away from their families (27.8%) than those living with their families (16.2%). The study raised concerns about smoking in student residences and women's smoking patterns. RÉSUMÉ Les données sur la consommation de tabac sont rares en République arabe syrienne. La présente enquête transversale par questionnaire a estimé la prévalence du tabagisme chez les étudiants en université dans la ville de Damas et a identifié les facteurs qui y sont liés. Sur un total de 583 répondants, la prévalence globale du tabagisme était de 20,8 %. L'âge moyen des fumeurs [25 ans (E.T. 2,2)] était significativement plus élevé que l'âge des nonfumeurs [21 ans (E.T. 1,8)]. La prévalence du tabagisme chez les étudiants de sexe masculin (26,1 %) était nettement plus forte que celle des étudiantes (9,5 %). Toutefois, les étudiantes consommaient un nombre bien plus important de cigarettes par jour que les étudiants [moyenne 21 (E.T. 5) contre 9 (E.T. 2)]. La prévalence du tabagisme chez les étudiants inscrits dans des facultés non spécialisées en sciences de la santé (27,8 %) était bien supérieure à celle des étudiants en santé (14,5 %) et supérieure chez les étudiants vivant loin de leur famille (27,8 %) par rapport aux étudiants vivant en milieu familial (16,2 %). L'étude a soulevé des inquiétudes concernant le tabagisme dans les résidences universitaires et les modes de consommation du tabac par les étudiantes.

Tobacco smoking among students of Al-Ghad College for Applied Medical Sciences for Male in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“…In addition to that, comparison with studies conducted in other Arab countries reveals lower smoking prevalence among male students of private universities in Egypt (16.3%) and Syria (26.1%) [15,16] whereas higher smoking prevalence was found among Palestinian male students (52.7%) [17].…”

The Prevalence of Smoking (Cigarette and Waterpipe) among University Students in Some Arab Countries: A Systematic Review

“…The total participants were (n= 45,306). The study included 19 studies from 12 Arab countries; Yemen (Nasser and Zhang, 2019;Nasser et al, 2018), KSA (Al-Ghaneem et al, 2016;Hassan et al, 2014;Mandil et al, 2011;Mandil et al, 2010), Kuwait (Husain et al, 2016), Bahrain (Alzayani andHamadeh, 2015), Jordan (Obeidat et al, 2014;Khader and Alsadi, 2008;Alomari et al, 2006), Lebanon (Jradi et al,2013), Tunisia (Maatouk et al, 2013, Egypt (Khan et al, 2012;Abolfotouh et al, 2007), Palestine (Musmar, 2012), Syria (Al Kubaisy et al, 2012), Libya (Abou-Faddan and Ahmed, 2012) and UAE (Mandil et al, 2007) as shown in (Table1).…”

“…Table 1 shows the all studies collected with overall smoking prevalence size from KSA included four studies (42.3% -30.4% -14.5% and 14.5%) (Hassan et al,2014;Al-Ghaneem and Al-Nefisah, 2016;Mandil et al, 2011, Mandil et al, 2010, Jordan three studies (35.0%-23.0% and 17.2%) (Khader and Alsadi,2008;Obeidat et al, 2014;Alomari et al, 2006) , Yemen two studies (33.1%-12.4%) (Nasser and Zhang, 2019; Nasser et al, 2018), and Egypt two studies (46.7%-7.7%) respectively (Khan et al, 2012;Abolfotouh et al, 2007). Some other countries included only one study as in Palestine (34.7%) (Musmar, 2012), Libya (28.3%) (Abou-Faddan and Ahmed , 2012), Lebanon (26.3%) (Jradi et al, 2013), Syria (20.8%) (Al Kubaisy et al, 2012), UAE (15.1%) (Mandil et al, 2007), Tunisia (14%) (Maatouk et al, 2013), Kuwait (46%) (Husain et al, 2016) and Bahrain (10.8%) (Alzayani and Hamadeh, 2015).…”

“…Nine of 19 studies show that prevalence of smoking among male students were significantly higher than females in Yemen (36.3% vs 28.0%, p<0.001) for age18-24 years (Nasser and Zhang, 2019), Bahrain (27.0% vs 4.2%, p<0.001) for age 19 ≥22 years (Alzayani and Hamadeh, 2015), Tunisia (38.4% vs 3.4%, P<0.001) for age 18-28 years (Maatouk et al, 2013), Egypt (61.2%vs18.9%, P<0.001) for age20-27 years (Khan et al, 2012), Palestine (52.7%-16.5%, p<0.001) for age 18-20 years (Musmar, 2012), Syria (26.1% -9.5%, p<0.001) for age 17-28 years (Al Kubaisy et al, 2012), and KSA (32.7% vs 5.9%, P<0.001) for age 17-25 years (Mandil et al, 2011). In Jordan, the smoking predictors were significant (54.3% vs 11.1%, P<0.005) and (56.9% vs 11.4%, P<0.005) for age 19 ≥ 22 years and 17-28 years (Obeidat et al, 2014;Khader and Alsadi, 2008) respectively.…”

The Prevalence of Risk Factors for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Student Population

“…В Азиатском регионе показатели несколько ниже -3,5-22% [12]. В работе [13] приведены данные о меньшей распространенности курения среди сирийских студентов-медиков в сравнении со студентами немедицинских специальностей -14,5% vs 27,8%. Уровень распространенности табакокурения в когорте студентов российских медицинских вузов близок к европейскому и варьирует в различных регионах от 17,7% до 42% [14].…”