Prevalence of Smoking and Related Risk Factors among Physical Education and Sports School Students at Istanbul University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate smoking prevalence and factors associated with smoking among students at the Physical Education and Sports School of Istanbul University. A cross-sectional study was performed on total of 373 students who have been continuing their education at the school from February to March 2011. A total of 166 responders were male (44.5%) and 207 responders were female (55.5%) out of 373 participants. Of the 373 students, 94 (25.2%) were current smokers and the average age for beginning smoking was 18.03 ± 2.6 (min: 12–max: 30). In this study, we found that the smoking prevalence associated with some variables such as age place of residence, mother’s education, father’s education, cigarette or tobacco use in the living place, knowledge status of students about their teacher’s smoking habits and alcohol consumption (p ≤ 0.05). These findings suggest that the students, who will train the sportspeople of the future, and should be considered a role model of healthy behavior in society. Consequently, we believe that sports school students should take an active role in providing health education programs to increase their awareness about the detrimental effects of smoking and to extensively quit smoking in public.

Influence of tobacco, alcohol consumption, eating habits and physical activity in nursing students

“…The percentage of smokers in this study (15.5%) is lower than those obtained in general students by the University of Valencia (24.83%) (37) , University of Barcelona (23.4%) (38) , University of Vigo (31.7%) (15) , University of Leon (29.3%) (39) , and University of Texas (26.2%) (40) . It is also lower than those obtained in nursing students from the University of Lima (Peru) (17%) (41) , Australia (21%) (42) , Turkey (22.7%) (43) and (25.2%) (44) , Barcelona (35.1%) (38) , and University of Chile (23.7%) (22) .…”

Prevalence of Smoking and Risk Factors Among Students at a University in Turkey

“…The majority of these deaths are in low-and middle-income countries. In addition, over the next years, it is predicted that this discrepancy will widen [1,2,3,4]. If tobacco uses trends remain as at present, by the year 2030, tobacco will cause the deaths of more than 8 million people worldwide every year.…”

“…Studies were also conducted to detect cigarette use frequency among college students. It was found that the smoking rate ranges between 7.8% and 58.0% among college students [1,3,12,13]. Even though tobacco use is significant for each individual in society, it is more important for some groups.…”

“…Groups which are known as "Role Models" (healthcare personnel, teachers, artists and athletes, politicians, etc.) have special responsibilities and special roles in regard to tobacco use [1,12]. In addition to the prevalence of smoking in Turkey, it is seen that the rate of smoking is also high among healthcare personnel and health students.…”

“…Another study conducted in schools that provide physical and sports education with the goal of raising athletes and role models, reported that 14.0% of the students started smoking in high school and that 49.3% of them smoked their first cigarettes between the age 14 and 18 [19]. Moreover, another study found that 25.2% of students smoked [1].…”