title: Correlates of cigarette smoking among university students in Cameroon.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine factors associated with smoking among university students in Cameroon.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was carried out using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire among a convenience sample of 3000 students from three universities (the Université  des Montagnes, and the Universities of Douala and Yaounde 1) in Cameroon; 190 students (5.9%) did not consent to the survey. Socio-demographic characteristics and smoking trends were recorded. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for smoking.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the students selected,  1862 (62%) were male. The mean age was 23.3 years. We found that 30.1% of students had tried smoking and that 5.6% (n = 168) reported regular smoking. Smoking prevalence among male and female students was respectively 9.5% and 1%. The mean age of smokers was 24.1 years. Only 12.5% of  regular smokers were nicotine-dependent. Factors motivating smoking were pleasure, imitation, snobbery and curiosity. In the multivariate analysis, smoking was statistically associated with age, male sex, exposure to friends who smoke and living with smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the prevalence  of smoking found in our study was low, effective tobacco control programmes targeting factors such as age, male sex and peer influence should be implemented in universities. Future studies are needed to evaluate the impact of these interventions.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Douala General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon. mbatchou.ngahane@yahoo.com
authors: B H
authors: BH
authors: Mbatchou Ngahane
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Luma
authors: Y N
authors: YN
authors: Mapoure
authors: Z M
authors: ZM
authors: Fotso
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Afane Ze
mesh_terms: D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult