Is There an Association between the Duration of Stay in the Medical Colleges and the Smoking Behavior among Medical Students? A Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Health-care providers must be at the forefront of tobacco cessation to ensure a downward shift in tobacco use. Medical schools constitute an important site for education and cessation efforts. Health-care professionals play a substantial role in influencing patients' lifestyle choices including tobacco cessation. OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between the duration of stay in the medical colleges and the smoking behavior among the medical students in Karnataka, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One government and four private medical colleges were selected using stratified random sampling technique for this cross-sectional study. Sample size was 3288 medical students. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. SPSS version 12.0 was used for data analysis. The statistical methods used were frequencies, proportions, and Chi-square test. RESULTS: Mean age of the study participants was 20.68 ± 2.05 years for males and 20.20 ± 1.91 years for females. Number of smokers among medical students after joining medical college increased 2.7 times. The duration of stay in the medical colleges was positively associated with the smoking behavior (P < 0.0001) among medical students, and the increase in the number of smokers reached up to 259.6% during internship. CONCLUSION: Smoking among medical students increases along with their stay in medical college.