title: Prevalence of smoking among rural secondary school students in Qualyobia governorate.
abstract: A cross sectional study was carried out in two rural secondary schools in Qualyobia governorate in the academic year 2002-2003 in order to assess the students' knowledge, attitudes and practice toward smoking. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used. A total of 635 students, 416 males and 219 females were interviewed. The response rate was 100%. The prevalence of ever tried cigarette was 29% (40% among males and 7% among females) with a median age of initiation at 11 years of age. The prevalence of current cigarette smoking among all students was 7.7 (11.5% among males and 0% among females). Waterpipe (Shisha) smoking was reported by 19% (26% among males and 5% among females) with median age of initiation at 12 yearsof age. The risk of smoking is higher among sons of highly educated mothers (OR=3.7, 95% CI=1-12), Boy only school students have almost half the risk of smoking than mixed school male students (OR=0.4, 95% CI=0.2-0.8). On studying the effect of having a smoker family member or friends on students smoking, having a smoker friend increases the risk of male students three time (OR=3, 95%CI=2-5) while others smoking was not statistically significant. More than 90% of the students (both males and females) thought that active and passive smoking are harmful. More females than males thought smoking is addictive (89% of the females and 81% of the males) while more males than females agreed that smokers have more friends (34% of males, 26% of the females) and that smoking makes boys look handsome (8% of males, 3% of females).
authors.affiliation: Egyptian Smoking Prevention Research Institute.
authors.forename: Shahinaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gadalla
authors.forename: Aisha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aboul-Fotouh
authors.forename: Maged
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Setouhy
authors.forename: Nabiel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mikhail
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abdel-Aziz
authors.forename: Mostafa K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Abd El Aziz
authors.initials: Ael A
authors.lastname: Kamal
authors.forename: Ebenezer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Israel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires