Knowledge and attitude towards smoking among Indian students of dentistry.
Active cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and an important established cause of cardiovascular disease mortality. Risks have been shown to increase with even light or intermittent active smoking.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence of smoking, age of initiation and the knowledge and attitude towards smoking among dental college students of Rajasthan, India.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,383 undergraduate and postgraduate dental college students of Rajasthan using self-administered closed-ended questionnaires consisting of 14 questions divided into four sections. A chi-square test was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables.


RESULTS
Of all the participants, 777 (56.2%) were male and 606 (43.8%) were female. Among these 258 (33.2%) males and 51 (8.4%) females had tried or experimented smoking. Majority of males (24.7%) initiated this habit at a very young age, before 16 years. About 79.5% males and 72.3% females felt that it was difficult to quit smoking. According to 88.1% females and 48.7% males, people feel less comfortable at public places or social gatherings.


CONCLUSIONS
The study has shown that the smoking prevalence among dental college students is high and has managed to contribute additional information regarding their attitude towards smoking. Comprehensive tobacco education and smoking cessation programmes should be aggressively promoted in dental settings.
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Pacific Dental College and Hospital, Udaipur, India.
Ramesh
R
Nagarajappa
Hemasha
H
Daryani
Archana J
AJ
Sharda
Kailash
K
Asawa
Mehak
M
Batra
Sudhanshu
S
Sanadhya
Gayathri
G
Ramesh
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Attitude; dental; knowledge; smoking; students