Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Sajid, Him Shah S Fahim, Akhtar Muneer, Muhammad Farooq.
Smoking in Young Armed Forces Officers of Pakistan Who Attended Various Courses at Quetta: A Descriptive Study.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;6(4):863-5.

Aim: To find out the prevalence of smoking in young armed forces officers of Pakistan who attended various courses at Quetta. Methods: One thousand young officers of Pakistan Army of age group 20-30 years who attended various courses at SI &T, Quetta were included in the study. Structured questionnaires were distributed among these officers in their central classes and they were requested to fill up the questionnaires without disclosing their identity. The questionnaires were collected by instructor at the end of central classes. Finally the data was compiled and categorized according to the age, rank and services. All this information was then analyzed with the help of SPSS 8.0. Out of 1000 questionnaires, 04 were not included in the analysis because they were not properly filled the questionnaire. So 996 were included in the analysis. Results: Out of 996 officers, 512(51.4%) were found to be smokers and 484(48.5%) were non – smokers. Among smokers, 458 (89.5%) were regular smokers and (10.5%) were occasional smokers (those who smoke <5 Cigarettes/week). It is revealed that 216(47.4%) were smokers in age group 20-25 years and 296 smokers (54.8%) were in age group 26-30 years. Data suggested high prevalence of smoking in the rank of a captain as compared to lieutenant. The prevalence of smoking is also higher in the young officers with more service. In our data, out of 512 smokers, 458(89.5%) were regular smokers. Out of 458 regular smokers, 83 (18.1%), 256(55.9%) and 119 (25.9%) were found to be mild, moderate and heavy smokers respectively. Date was also analyzed for main factors responsible for initiation and persistence of smoking. It revealed that company of friends was the leading factor for initiation of smoking i.e. 47.1% (n-214) followed by stressful environment of army i.e. 24.6% (n-126), media campaign i.e. 18.2% (n-93) and parent’s smoking i.e. 10.2% (n=52). Out 996 officers, 873 (87.6%) officers had option that army atmosphere encourage smoking. 100% smokers had the opinion that smoking is harmful to health. All the smokers responded that their smoking is also harmful to other non-smokers and children.

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