Tobacco Smoking among Medical Students in the Middle East: Identifying Areas for Intervention

A cross sectional study was conducted on medical students enrolled in the Arabian Gulf University in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The objective was to describe medical students’ tobacco smoking behavior and to provide recommendations for promoting a healthy lifestyle among them. A self administered anonymous questionnaire was used, which included questions on demography and tobacco smoking behavior. The study showed that 10.8% only of the medical students were current smokers, either on daily or occasional basis. However, 27.0% of the males were current smokers compared to 4.2% of the females (p<0.001). The mean and median ages of starting to smoke were 17.43±2.3 and 18 years, respectively. The prevalence of smoking was higher among students of years 3 and 4 than in years 1 and 2.Tobacco smoking behaviors cluster among students according to gender and medical year. Urgent interventions are needed to promote smoking cessation among medical students