The Prevalence, Effective Factors, and Nicotine Dependence Among Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Cigarette smoking, quite common among medical students, may downgradetheir academic performance. Additionally, initiation of smoking at an early age can increase thelikelihood of developing nicotine addiction. This study aims to identify the contributing factorsto smoking prevalence and nicotine dependence among medical students in East AzerbaijanProvince, Iran.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data after obtaining participants’consent and receiving the code of ethics. A checklist was used to meet the inclusion andexclusion criteria. Subsequently, the information was entered into SPSS software and analyzed.Results: Out of the ۳۳۴ individuals who participated in the research, ۱۵۰(۴۴.۹%) were male,and ۵۸(۱۷.۴%) were smokers. Significant correlations were observed between smoking,gender, and educational level. The level of nicotine dependence was categorized as very lowin ۱۰ individuals (۳%), low in ۸(۲.۴%), moderate in ۱۵(۴.۵%), high in ۱۶(۴.۸%), and veryhigh in ۹(۲.۷%). Significant relationships were found between nicotine dependence in medicalstudents and their gender and educational level.Conclusion: There is a relatively high rate of cigarette smoking among medical students,strongly associated with male gender and educational level. As a result, collaborative planningacross departments seems necessary to implement preventative, advisory, and therapeuticmeasures at the societal and university levels.

Keywords:

Addiction , Medical students , Prevalence , Smoking , Tobacco use disorder