Smokers Versus Non-Smokers: Comparing Cognitive Flexibility and Dyspnea Symptoms in Medical Students

Objective: Smoking is an escalating public health concern globally, notably for its frequency among young individuals and the medical conditions it induces. This research aims to explore the association between smoking and the symptoms of dyspnea as well as cognitive flexibility levels in medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 188 volunteer medical school students. Participants were administered a sociodemographic data form, the Dyspnea-12 Scale, and the Cognitive Flexibility Scale. The participants were divided into two groups as smokers and non-smokers and compared in terms of the applied scale scores. The data were analyzed using the appropriate statistical methods with IBM SPSS v.22 software. Results: Of the 188 participants, 56.9% (n:107) were female, while 43.1% (n: 81) were male. The prevalence of smoking among participants was 26.1% (n: 49), with rates at 38.3% (n:31) for males and 16.8% (n: 18) for females. The smoking rate was significantly higher in males (p<0.001). No significant difference was detected between smokers and non-smokers regarding the Dyspnea-12 score. However, the Cognitive Flexibility Scale scores were significantly lower in the smoker group (p:0.018). Conclusion: In our study, we found that the smoking rate among medical students was quite high and that smoking negatively affected cognitive flexibility. It may be beneficial to consider this when evaluating cognitive functions in educated individuals who smoke.