Rashid Ahmed, Rizwanur Rashid, Paul W Mcdonald, Wajid Ahmed.
Prevalence of cigarette smoking among young adults in Pakistan.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;58(11):597-601.

Objective: To obtain information about the prevalence of cigarette smoking among a selected sample of university students in Karachi and build our understanding of the determinants of smoking with respect to family smoking, smoking in the home, smoke-free public places, and quit smoking cessation programmes. Methods: Data were collected as a part of a pilot project initiated by Jinnah University Karachi. Participants were 629 university students (432 males and 197 females) aged 18-25 years from ten universities in Karachi. Descriptive statistics and Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the results and conclusions. Results: Thirty-nine per cent of students had smoked a whole cigarette in their life time, whereas 25% had smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime. Overall, 23% of students (31% male and 6% female) were classified as a current smoker and their mean age and standard deviation of smoking initiation was 17±2.7 years (17±2.6) for males and 16±2.9 females. Sixty-three percent of smokers reported that public places should be smoke-free. Logistic regression analyses adjusted by age and gender suggested that parental and sibling influence and number of close friends and individuals who smoke at home were highly predictive of being a smoker. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that student were generally open to smoking cessation treatment and no-smoking restrictions (JPMA 58:597; 2008).

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