Étude épidémiologique sur le tabagisme et sa dépendance chez les étudiants de la faculté de médecine de Setif

Abstract

Smoking is considered one of the most important risk factors for the development of diseases. Algeria does not escape this phenomenon. Doctors and students in medical science play a key role in the fight against tobacco, they are indeed the first to raise awareness, inform and help to wean. It is therefore relevant to determine the rate of smoking in this particular population in order to study their behavior and attitudes towards smoking. An analytical cross-sectional study. The survey took place at the Faculty of Medicine of Setif from January 01, 2022 to April 01, 2022 by means of a self-questionnaire. The data entry was done on Excel and the analysis of the results by the R software. 609 students participated in the survey. The rate of smoking was 11.49% of which 96 % were male. The dependence rate according to the Fagerström score was estimated at 55.32% among 47 student smokers. Of the smokers, only 14.8 had good motivation to quit. Statistically significant risk factors in the univariate analysis were: male gender (P < 0.001), dental surgery (p =0.02), the global Point Average between 10 and 11 (p = 0.003), free cigarette offers (p < 0.001), and recent substance use (p <0.001). The multivariate analysis model revealed that male gender with the offer of a free cigarette whether "often", "sometimes" or "rarely" were statistically associated with a high risk of tobacco use (p=0.00236,p=0.00123,p=4.78e- 06,p=0.03055 respectively). One quarter of the students who stated that when health professionals smoke, it does not diminish their credibility were smokers (5.89%) (p<0.001). The rate of smoking among health profession students remains somewhat low compared to other faculties in the country and international faculties. However, tobacco control must be done in order to decrease smoking among medical students and to implement integrated smoking cessation training in health programs.