Authors

Doriam Camacho-Rodríguez1, Luz Ángela Reyes-Ríos2

Position

1Doctora en Enfermería. Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Campus Santa Marta. Colombia2Doctora en Educación. Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. Campus Santa Marta. Colombia

Contact address

Doriam Camacho-Rodríguez. Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. Troncal del Caribe Sector Mamatoco. Santa Marta (Colombia).

Contact email: doricama@yahoo.es

Abstract

Objective: to estimate the prevalence and variables associated with smoking among University students.
Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on Colombian University students. The instrument used for data collection was the Questionnaire on Smoking Prevalence among University Students designed by Bautista and used in a previous study in El Salvador and Colombia. Said questionnaire was structured into three blocks: sociodemographic characteristics, smoking, and smoking prevention. There was intentional sampling. The study involved students from seven different academic programmes. Descriptive analysis was conducted. The Mann Whitney U and Square Chi statistical tests were applied to compare variables between smokers and non-smokers. Statistical significance was considered if p< 0.05.
Results: the study included 331 students; their mean age (SD) was 23.65 (5.39) years, and 57.1% (n= 189) of participants were female. There was a 28.1% (n= 65) prevalence of smokers among University students. A significant relation was confirmed between smoking and gender (p= 0.011), with a higher prevalence of smokers detected among men (56.9%; n= 37) than women (43.1%; n= 28); as well as between smoking and the ease to bear its costs (p= 0.011), with a higher proportion of students among smokers who stated that they found it easy / very easy (32.3% vs. 28.9%). Smokers initiated their use of tobacco at a mean age (SD) of 16.78 (2.95) years; 64.1% of them had relatives who smoked, and 53.1% had smoked at University. On the other hand, 92.2% considered that smoking was harmful for their health, and 93.8% were aware that tobacco smoke was harmful for others.
Conclusions: there was a low prevalence of smoking among University students. The variables associated with smoking were gender and economic status.

Keywords:

Tobacco use; smoking tobacco; prevalence; smoking; university students

Versión en Español

Título:

Factores asociados al consumo de tabaco en estudiantes universitarios colombianos