Cigarette smoking among Iranian medical students, resident physicians and attending physicians

This research assessed the prevalence of cigarette smoking among Iranian medical students, resident physicians and attending physicians.

Subjects (532 males and females) were selected randomly from Shiraz university of medical sciences and were administered by a questionnaire.

Of the participants 16.79% of males and 0.69% of females were smokers. Of the medical students, 18.48% of students, 12.5% of pre-externship students, 7.19% of externship students and 16.95% of internship students were smokers. Of resident physicians 11.11% were smokers. Among attending physicians 7.57% were smokers. The most common causes of current cigarette smoking were need (avoid withdrawal symptoms), pleasurable purposes and release of tension, respectively. Foreign filter tipped cigarette was the most common type of cigarette used. The mean of cigarette per day was 6.29 cigarettes and the mean age of starting cigarette was 19.71 years.