Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cigarette Smoking among Male Students of Taibah University, Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Tobacco use is one of the most common causes of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and cancers. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence, knowledge and attitude toward cigarette smoking among university students of Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The present cross sectional study included 360 students from six faculties using a stratified random sampling procedure. The questionnaire was anonymous, self-written and adopted from Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). A total of 342 out of 360 students enrolled in this study were analyzed. Seventy five students (21.9 %) indicated that they smoke tobacco at the time of the study while the percent of students who had ever smoked a cigarette even once during lifetime was 33.3 %. Cigarette smoking was practiced by the final years students more than first and second-year students with statistically significant difference (p= 0.04). About 93.3 % of the students indicated that smoking could cause serious diseases, and 71.1 % thought that smoking should be banned in public areas. The findings of this study confirm similar smoking prevalence among University students and indicate a higher percent of good knowledge and favorable attitude of the studied students towards cigarette smoking