Prevalence and Demographics of Smoking Traditional and Electronic Cigarettes among Students at King Abdul Aziz University

Abstract

Introduction: The majority of tobacco by-products such as cigarette usage begins in adolescence and early young age. Tobacco contains nicotine which is an extremely addictive drug, and adults and teenagers may be particularly vulnerable to dependence. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of smoking both traditional and electronic cigarettes; in addition to its potential sociodemographic determinants among university students.
Methods: A study design is a plan for conducting research. It includes the specific methods and procedures that will be used to collect and analyze data. There are several types of study designs, including observational studies, experimental studies, and randomized controlled trials. In the present study, the cross-sectional observational study design was followed in order to gather data from a sample of King Abdul Aziz University students at a single point in time. A self-generated online survey was disseminated via emails and SMS followed by reminder messages, among the students to assess the dynamics of traditional versus e-cigarette smoking. The data was analyzed statistically by using SPSS software. The p-values less than 0.05 are regarded as signs of statistically significant associations or differences
Results: A total sample of 392 students responded to the questionnaire, of them 62.2% were males. the preliminary association between demographic characteristics and type of cigarette smoking among the students was assessed. The results showed that among smokers, 77% of males are involved in cigarette smoking as compared to 23% of females. Among 77% of males, 48% of them belong to 20-23 years of age in comparison to 11% and 42% of less than 20 and more than 23 years old respectively. While in the case of non-smokers, 55% are females and 45% are males. Most of these females belong to the 20-23 age group while most the non-smoker males are 23-40 years old. So, it can be said that 20 to 23 years old males smoke more than females of the same age. While the results about the type of cigarette smoking showed that most people around 40%, 90%, 61%, and 52% people think that e-cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes, electronic ones, both regular and electronic, and shisha respectively.
Conclusions: Demographic association, especially in terms of age and gender, for the prevalence of smoking both traditional and e-cigarettes, demonstrates that male students are more addicted to both types of cigarettes.