SOCIAL LIFE HABITS REGARDING SMOKING AND ITS PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCES AMONG DIFFERENT PROFESSIONALS OF KARACHI: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Abstract
Objectives were to investigate a relationship between smoking practices and level of awareness about health effects of smoking among undergraduate students in public sector universities of Karachi and to assess reasons for smoking among them.
An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted for the duration of 6 months from (April 2019 to September 2019). Four hundred participants were selected using consecutive sampling technique. Consenting undergraduates with ages more than 18 years who studied in Dow international dental college, Dow medical college, NED University and University of Karachi were included in this study. Self-administered structured questionnaire was used. Data was entered and analyze using SPSS v.21.
Results showed among study participants 103 (25.8%) were smokers and 253(63.3%) were nonsmokers. Prevalence was reported as 51.6% and 13.7% in males and females respectively. The ratio of non-smokers to smokers was high. It can also be seen by the fact that almost 89.3% of the participants had awareness and knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking on health. Also significant association was found between current smoking status and knowledge, attitude and perception (p <0.05).
It was concluded that ratio of non-smokers to smokers was high due to increased awareness and knowledge towards the harmful effects of smoking.
