PREVALENCE OF SMOKING AMONG NEFU STUDENTS

Smoking and vaping are common bad habits, especially among young people. Studying this phenomenon among students is important for developing programs to prevent smoking initiation and help in quitting it. These programs can help improve youth health and reduce the risk of serious illnesses. Purpose: to study the prevalence of smoking traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (including vaping) among 1styear students of the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. The study covered 152 1st-year students of one of the educational departments of the North-Eastern Federal University aged 17 to 30 years (average age 20.62±2.97). A data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software package. A comparison of two groups according to a quantitative indicator with a normal distribution, provided that variances were equal, was performed using Student’s t-test. The share of non-smoking respondents slightly prevailed – 61.8 % (94). The proportion of smokers was 39.2 % (58), of which 35 women (60.34 %), 23 men (39.65 %), the average age of women and men was 20.6 ± 3.03 and 20.65 years, respectively. The smoking experience in men was significantly higher: the average smoking experience in men was 6.48±5.18 years, in women –3.17±2.53 (p=0.002). Thus, men started smoking on average at 14.17±3.96 years, women – at 17.43±3.62 (p=0.002). The smoking index ranged from values close to zero to 7.2 pack/years (mean value – 1.23±1.62 pack/years). The results showed that the majority of respondents noted an increased desire to smoke in a state of stress – 40 (69 %), shortness of breath – 30 (51.7 %), skin problems – 26 (44.8 %), fatigue – 25 (43.1 %), gastrointestinal disorders – 16 (27.6 %), “lump” in the throat – 15 (25.9 %), cough – 22 (37.9 %), frequent headaches 20 (34.5 %), blurred vision – 14 (24.1 %), and attacks of suffocation – 5 (8.6 %). None of the symptoms were noticed in 6 out of 58 (10 %) respondents. The majority of students who combine smoking with vaping do not plan to give up the bad habit (73.07 %), students smoking traditional cigarettes also showed a high percentage of adherence to the bad habit, with 50 % not planning to give up smoking. Thus, this study highlights the need to develop programs to prevent smoking initiation and help to quit among students, which can help improve the health of young people and reduce the risk of serious diseases.

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