Smoking among undergraduate university students

Background: Smoking is one of the major Public Health problems worldwide. Aim: To study the frequency of tobacco smoking among undergraduate students of a Chilean university. Material and Methods: An opinion survey was sent by e-mail to all undergraduate students of a university, registering gender, age, study years, study area, smoking behavior, motivation (reason for smoking), intention to quit and tobacco law perception. Results: 1,008 (57% females) out of 11,679 surveys were answered back. Prevalence of active smoking among respondents was 36%, without association with gender, age or years of study. However, students from scientific areas had a lower prevalence. Seventy seven percent of smokers manifested the intention to quit the habit or have started quitting already. Ninety six percent were acquainted with the tobacco law and by 73% agreed with it. Conclusions: Smoking is highly prevalent among university students. It is necessary to develop strategies for smoking cessation within universities that may prevent or reduce tobacco smoking among students.