Prevalence of cigarette smoking among young adults in Pakistan.
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study suggest that student were generally open to smoking cessation treatment and no-smoking restrictions.
Ahmed
Rashid
R
Population Health Research Group (PHR), University of Waterloo.
Rizwan-ur-Rashid
McDonald
Paul W
PW
Ahmed
S Wajid
SW
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult