Prevalence of Tobacco Use among Medical Students, Ain- Shams University

Abstract

Nicotine is one of the most highly addictive and heavily used drugs in the United States and around the world; about 20 % of the population develops nicotine dependence at some point, making it one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders. Tobacco is the most common form of nicotine. It is smoked most commonly in cigarettes, then, in descending order, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, and in pipes. The world Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 1 billion smokers worldwide, and they smoke 6 trillion cigarettes a year. The WHO also estimates that tobacco kills more than 3 million persons each year. (Sadock and Sadock, 2007). The risk of initiation of smoking increased with the trait anxiety score. Given that medical education causes anxiety, which negatively affects the mental health of students, and that the mental health scores of students increase dramatically during the first year of this education period, medical education may possibly have an indirect negative effect on smoking. (Senol et al., 2006) The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of tobacco use in a sample of medical students and house officers at Faculty of Medicine, Ain-Shams University and if there is association between anxiety and tobacco use in this sample and if there is association between anxiety and  Summary 133 smoking. All medical students who participated in the study were in lectures or in clinical round and house officers were in different departments in Ain Shams Hospital as psychiatry department and internal medicine department. The questionnaires were distributed to the participant and took 15-30 minutes for each one.