THE RISING TREND OF SMOKING AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to find out the prevalence and different types of smoking among female medical students of different universities of Lahore and Multan. STUDY DESIGN: It is a cross sectional type of study. PLACE AND DURATION: The study was done from July 2017 to June 2018. 378 Female students from different universities were enrolled in the study, their identity was kept secret. METHODOLOGY: The sample consisted of 378 females students selected on the basis of random consecutive sampling. A pre-formed questionnaire was made and given to them according to the study protocol. RESULTS: The prevalence of smoking among females students was found to 16.8%.The mean age of smokers was 20.31±3.45 years.The sheesha, as a source of smoke was found to be popular among females medical students. Majority of the students were doing their graduation( business administration-23.1%,fashion designing 25.4%) . It was noted that majority of the students become addicted to smoking in their teen ages 14-19 years. CONCLUSION: Smoking is a rapidly increasing stigma of the society these days,with females are no exception. It is the need of the hour to take serious measure about this evil, so that further stigmatization may be prevented among students and other society members