DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2022.v10i03.015

Pages: 362-367

Background: Smoking means the activity or habit of smoking cigarettes; this is very much common all over the world. The consumption of cigarettes in developing countries is increasing, while in the industrialized country is declining or static. Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of smoking among school children in Dhaka city. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in high schools of Dhaka city from June 2006 to December 2006. Students of classes VIII, IX and X were selected by random table selection. A total of 2474 participants were included in the study. The collected data were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS-24) for windows version 10.0. Results: The age of the study of children was between 12 to 18 years. Among the study children, 8(0.32%), 354(14.3%), 900(36.3%), 850(34.3%), 324(13.1%), 30(1.21%), 8(0.32%) belonged to 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 years of age respectively. Male and female students were 1876 (75.8%), 598 (24.2%) respectively. The prevalence of smoking among male and female students was 36.0% and 17.0% respectively. The prevalence was 32.0% and only 4.0% of the students are regular smokers combining boys and girls together. Only 06 (0.76%) did not want to leave smoking and 786 (99.24%) wanted to leave smoking. Conclusion: The prevalence was 32.0% among all students of this study. In boys, 36.0% were found smokers and in girls, 17.0% were smokers. Almost all (99.24%) students were willing to quit smoking in future. Adolescents should not be allowed to buy cigarettes for parents or family members.