To study the prevalence and causes of smoking among students, as well as to assess their awareness of the health risks of smoking

Full Text

Introduction. Smoking is the most vivid example of the emergence and consolidation of habits in human society that do not make sense, but are harmful to health. It is well known that a healthy lifestyle is fundamentally incompatible with bad habits [1, 2]. This is especially true from the position that smoking is one of the most important risk factors for many diseases, and therefore significantly affects the health of young people and the general population. Conducted in 2020 Population studies have shown that even a non-daily smoker has a 1.5 times higher risk of premature death from any cause than a non-smoker [3]. With the advent of electronic cigarettes on the market, the number of smokers has increased significantly due to teenagers and the population under 25 years of age. The manufacturers of the new product position it as a harmless alternative to classic cigarettes, and also claim that it can be used to give up smoking without much effort. However, in reality, this has led to an increase in nicotine consumption by young people. Rapid absorption of nicotine causes addiction faster. Other components in the course of "vaping" from ES also negatively affect different body systems and are carcinogens [4, 5].
The aim of the work was to study the prevalence of smoking among students of the Faculty of Medicine, as well as to identify the main causes of smoking and assess their awareness of its harm to health.
Materials and methods. The research was conducted as part of the work of the student scientific circle of the Department of Nursing. Analytical and statistical methods and an anonymous online survey were used in the course of the study. 52 students (random sample) of the 1st year of the Faculty of Medicine participated in the study. The questionnaire contains 25 closed-type questions.
The results of the study. Among the surveyed 1st year students of the Faculty of Medicine, half of the respondents (38; 73.1%) were smokers, of whom 23 were boys (60.5%) and 15 girls (39.5%). According to the results of the study, the majority of respondents (26; 68.4%) started smoking cigarettes or vaping at high school age (15-17 years old), and 12 students indicated that they acquired a bad habit at the age of 12-14. At the same time, 28 (73.7%) respondents consider themselves to be smokers all the time, 10 (26.3%) students occasionally use tobacco and nicotine-containing substances. A quarter of respondents (26.9%) indicated that they do not use nicotine-containing substances, 15 teenagers smoke both cigarettes and vape (39.5%), 12 only cigarettes (31.6%), and 11 people (28.9%) use only vape. The number of cigarettes smoked per day by students who smoke only cigarettes or cigarettes and vaping averages up to 10 in 14 students (51.9%) and more than 10 cigarettes in 13 respondents (48.1%). The opinion of the majority of smokers and non-smokers (25; 65.8%) that vaping is an effective means of quitting smoking and does not harm health is worrisome. The majority of smokers and non-smokers of respondents are neutral towards people who use tobacco (42; 80.8%), or approve of their addiction (4; 10.5%). Only a quarter of the respondents (6; 15.8%) are negative towards smokers. At the same time, only smokers expressed approval for smoking. In the first place among the reasons that contributed to the onset of smoking in the majority of 1st year students of the Faculty of Medicine was the influence of smoking peers (73.7%), in the second place – interest, the desire to just try (65.8%), as well as the opinion that smoking calms down, helps to cope with stress (60.5%), in the third – imitation of parents and other family members (47.4%). Indeed, according to the survey, almost half of the surveyed students who have a bad habit smoke only their father (11; 28.9%), or both parents smoke (8; 21.1%), only their mother smokes (7; 18.4%), or other family members (7; 18.4%). Only 5 (13.2%) smoking students indicated the absence of smoking family members. An assessment of the awareness of 1st year students of the Faculty of Medicine about the dangers of nicotine for their health and the health of others showed that more than half of the surveyed adolescents know about the harm of tobacco to humans and those who are next to them (32; 76.3%). Almost a quarter of smoking students believe that smoking only harms the smoker (6; 15.8%), or information about the dangers of smoking is a hoax (3; 7.9%). The results of the Fagerstrom test for determining the degree of nicotine dependence are encouraging, according to which the vast majority of smoking students of the Faculty of Medicine have a very weak or weak degree of dependence on nicotine-containing substances (70.2% and 23.2%, respectively). Meanwhile, only 14 (36.8%) of smoking students were able to indicate the effects of smoking on their bodies.
Conclusion. It is important to start preventive measures before the onset of manifestations of risky behavior, and a healthy type of behavior of parents and healthy attitudes in the family are an example of a child's behavior and will allow him to form an attitude towards his health and lifestyle [7]. The results of the survey of 1st year students of the Faculty of Medicine showed that it is necessary to develop measures aimed not only at reducing the frequency of their use of tobacco and nicotine-containing substances, but also involving the parents of these students in this process.

About the authors

Anastasia Alexandrovna Muratova

Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy"

Email: anastasiamuratow@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0002-3122-6785

3rd year student of the Faculty of Medicine

Russian Federation, 105318, Moscow, Izmailovsky Val str., 2

Anna Vladimirovna Slezina

Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy"

Author for correspondence.
Email: a.slezina@internet.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2454-0960

Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine

Russian Federation

References

Supplementary files

There are no supplementary files to display.