Final year medical students’ knowledge about smoking in Cairo University

Smoking is an important health problem in Egypt and seems to be increasing. Future physicians must be aware of smoking hazards and cessation methods to overcome this problem.Aim: Finding out about the medical students’ knowledge regarding smoking hazards and smoking cessation.Methodology: A questionnaire was designed with five main headings and answered by final year medical students at Cairo University during the academic year 2012–2013.Results: 1274 students participated with about 79–149 students (6.2–11.7%) not replying to the questions. 129 students (10.1%) of the participants were smokers. Awareness of students about hazards was more than 90% for respiratory and cardiovascular risks, while only 992 (77.9%) were aware of psychiatric disorders related to smoking. The main source of knowledge was considered the university by 868 students (68.2%) and friends were regarded as of no role by 603 students (47.3%). Although the majority were well acquainted with hazards: 1053 students (82.7%) only 179 (14.1%) knew about cessation methods and 133 students (10.4%) knew about the drugs that may help quit smoking. Also 382 (30%) considered one’s own will to be the strongest contributor to stopping smoking while 436 students (34.2%) considered medications to have no role. Finally most students: 1110 (87.2%) showed a positive attitude towards offering future advice against smoking.Conclusion: Although most students seemed quite aware of smoking hazards, knowledge about smoking cessation seemed to be insufficient. About 10% of the students did not answer any of the questions, a problem that should be studied further