Prevalence and Associated Factors of Tobacco Smoking in Jumla, Nepal

Introduction: Globally, tobacco consumption is a major risk factor for mortality with an estimated five million deaths every year. Mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory conditions are the main cause of smoking. The rate of becoming smoker of teenagers increase day by day and 33% of them are believed to die due to consumption of tobacco. Almost 90% of them start smoking before the age of eighteen. The objective of this research is to study the prevalence, associated factors and behavior of cigarette smoking. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to find the prevalence of smoking and other associated factors. A sample of 345 students were recruited purposively from the selected school and a self administered questionnaire were used to collect the data in 2020 using WHO step survey. Data were entered in EPI data and Univariate and bivariate analysis was done using SPSS16. Logistic regression was used to find the associated factors. P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistical significant. Results: Among 318 students, 65% were male. The average age of the students was 18.03±1.65 years with the range of 15 to 25 years. The prevalence of smoking was estimated 23.3% (male=31.9% and female = 7.2%). The mean age of initiation of smoking was 16.5 years. Presence of parental smoking and smoking status was significantly associated (P < 0.05). Alcoholic habit was the predictor of smoking (p<0.05). Peer pressure (83.7%), exam load (55.8%), frustration (51.2%) family environment (43%), advertisement (34.9%), pleasure (26.7%) and curiosity (22.1%) were the main reason of starting smoking.  They had the knowledge of harmful effects of smoking i.e. cause cancer (91.8%), chronic bronchitis (65.70%), laryngeal cancer (42.10%), heart disease (34.3%). Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking was remarkably high in college students. Thus, it is important to address this preventable problem.