Comparison of smoking behaviour among medical and other college students in Rawalpindi.

OBJECTIVE To assess the frequency of smoking among students in medical and non-medical colleges of Rawalpindi and to explore the differences in smoking behaviour of the two college students. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional comparative study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Random sampling of students from a medical college and non-medical college of Rawalpindi was carried out in October 2006. METHODOLOGY An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was used for the study which inquired about gender, number of daily smoked cigarettes, feeling addicted, attempt and success or failure at quitting, most important factor that helped in quitting smoking and reasons of smoking were compared between the medical college and non-medical college students. RESULTS The total medical college students in the study were 444 and among them 32.7% were smokers. The total nonmedical college students were 405 and among them 41% were smokers (p=0.012). Nine point seven percent medical students and only 6% non-medical students were successful in quitting their habit of smoking (p=0.231). CONCLUSION There was significant difference in smoking behaviour among the group. Being medical students it had effect on the decision to smoke, which may have modified their consumption level.