Cigarettes still woo students, finds study

Thrissur: The students are aware of the consequences of smoking but still  sections of them here  are daily  smokers, especially cigarettes.  This has been found by  a study conducted by the Government Medical College here.    

Over 16 per cent of college students in  Thrissur smoke cigarettes or beedis, according to the  study titled ‘Prevalence and determinants of substance abuse among youth in central Kerala,  India’ published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health.

The study which sampled 402 students aged between15 and 24  in two  colleges in the district found that 35.4 per cent of them  were daily smokers. Cigarettes were the most favoured tobacco product, with 72.3 per cent using them.  The age of first initiation to cigarettes was as low as seven years.

The questionnaire  given to the participants focussed on various socio-demographic characteristics like age, education level and occupation of parents, type and frequency of tobacco use among others.

Dr. Rini Raveendran, assistant professor in community medicine at Govt Medical College, Manjeri,  and one of the study’s co-authors, said,  “we found that 96.1 per cent of students were aware of the health consequences of substance abuse. Under these circumstances,  society has to come together to prevent youngsters from inculcating these unhealthy habits,” Dr. Rini  said.