Prevalence and Associated Factors of Tobacco Smoking among Undergraduate Medical and Dental Students in Rajasthan

Introduction: Tobacco smoking is one of the biggest public health problem as well as leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. It is a common phenomenon among youth, and medical and dental students are also not sparing of it. It not only reduces their work efficiency at present but also increase their disability-adjusted life years in the long run. It may also threaten their professional efficacy to provide adequate patient care and put a negative impact on society as a doctor should be a role model for healthy lifestyle. Aim: The main object of the study was to assess the prevalence of tobacco smoking and associated factors among medical and dental undergraduate students. Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional survey, which was conducted in a private medical university in Rajasthan. A pre-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was administered to undergraduate medical and dental students after ethical approval. All the undergraduate students of medical and dental fraternity present on the day of survey and gave consent were included in the study. Results: The overall prevalence rates of lifetime and current smoking were found to be 20.20% (39.05% among males and 7% among females) and 12.94% (25.24% among males and 4.33% among females), respectively. Individual and family characteristics of study subjects like age, sex, place of residence, fraternity, type of family, and socioeconomic status were significantly associated with habit of smoking (P < 0.05), while religion and caste were found to not be significant factors of smoking among students (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of tobacco smoking among undergraduate medical and dental students was unacceptably high. Hence, it needs proper education and counseling of students to minimize or eliminate smoking habit in institutions of higher education.