Survey on medical students’ smoking: the use of heated tobacco products (HTPs) and changes in behavior after the relocation of an assigned smoking area to a distant place

Abstract

Objectives:This study aimed to examine the use of HTPs among medical students and the effects on their smoking behavior which the relocation of the smoking area can cause.
Methods: Two survey studies were conducted using questionnaires with 713 medical students. The first survey included questions regarding baseline smoking status of cigarettes and HTPs. The second survey consisted of questions concerning smoking status and frequency before and after the assigned smoking area was relocated far from the main lecture hall.
Results: In the first survey, 630 responses were received (response rate: 88.4%) and 38 out of 553 valid respondents were smokers. Twenty smokers (52.6%) used HTPs, the principal reason being “less harmful than cigarettes”. When the smoking area was moved far away, the smoking rate of cigarettes or HTPs significantly declined from 8.9% to 7.2%. The median frequency going to the smoking area also significantly decreased from 4.25 to 2.00 times per day.
Discussion: Education must be provided to medical students about HTPs since some of them need more accurate understanding. Furthermore, this study indicates that inconvenience caused by the relocation leads to less smoking frequency and lower smoking rate.
Conclusion: This study shows that the percentage of HTP users among all smoking medical students was roughly equal to the number reported in a nationwide study. Our research indicates that the change in the location of the smoking place can motivate students to quit smoking.