© 2017 Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy 239 ORIGINAL ARTICLE INTRODUCTION Tobacco use kills about six million people yearly and remains the leading cause of preventable deaths globally, with lots of economic implications. [1] Tobacco smoking is practiced by more than one billion of the world’s population, with cigarette smoking being the most common. [2] Te incidence of smoking in Nigeria is on the increase especially among the youths. [3,4] It is a huge public health threat. [5] Developing countries form a huge market for tobacco companies and it is estimated that by 2030, it would account for more than 80% of tobacco-related deaths. [6] Most African countries, including Nigeria, failed to respond appropriately to the growing epidemic because of the revenue generated from tobacco and are now paying the price for the enormous burden of cigarette-related diseases on health budgets. [7] Both direct tobacco use and second-hand smoke are lethal as it has been established that they cause serious medical conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. It causes low birth weight and sudden death in pregnant women and infants, respectively. [5] Te general objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and awareness of cigarette smoking amongst undergraduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Te specifc objectives were: (i) To determine the prevalence of cigarette smoking among undergraduates (ii) To assess the level of knowledge of students as regards cigarettes, risks of cigarette smoking and its control (iii) To assess the attitudes of undergraduates towards cigarette smoking (iv) To determine the diference between demographic variables in their mean, knowledge and attitude scores (v) To evaluate the association between demographic variables and the knowledge, attitudes towards cigarette smoking. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Tis study was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted within a duration of three (3) months, (June to August 2016), to assess the prevalence and awareness of cigarette smoking amongst undergraduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Te University of Nigeria Nsukka, (Nsukka Campus) is located on 871 hectares of hilly savannah in the town of Nsukka about eighty kilometers north of Enugu State. In 2015 the student population was 15,439, comprising 8,690 males and 6,749 females. Te Nsukka Campus houses the faculties of Arts, Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Education, Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, as well as Postgraduate programs. Te study participants were second to fnal year undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Campus, willing and able to participate. First year students, as well as students and members of staf of the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC) were excluded from the study. Te total population for the sample size was sought from the Department of Academic Planning Unit of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Tere were 10,849 undergraduate students, with 4,748 females. From this population the sample size was determined using the Raosof ® sample size calculator to be at 372 at 95% confdence interval and 5% margin of error, assuming 50% of the participants responded. Te multi- stage sampling method was utilized. For convenience of sampling, the sample size was increased to 1000. In the frst stage, stratifed random sampling was used to determine the number of male and female students to participate. Tis number was further stratifed into various departments in each faculty. Ten simple random sampling was used to select the participants in the various levels in each department in the various faculties. Before the questionnaires were distributed, both oral and written consents were obtained from the study participants. A 44-item well- structured self-administered questionnaire was disseminated to participants to assess demographic information, awareness, prevalence ABSTRACT Context: Smoking incidence among youths in Nigeria is on the rise and cigarette smoking is considered one of the largest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality globally. Aims: To assess the prevalence and awareness of cigarette smoking amongst undergraduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Settings and Design: This study was a cross-sectional and descriptive survey conducted among undergraduates in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from June to August 2016. Methods and Material: Data were collected by the 44-item structured, self-administered questionnaire. Statistical Analysis used: The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version 16.0 (SPSS Inc, Version 16.0, Chicago, USA). P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically signifcant. Results: A total of 570 questionnaires were completed and returned. Only 49.6% of the students had adequate knowledge of cigarette smoking and its health implications while the same percentage had good attitudes (i.e., attitudes that could make them never smoke or quit smoking) towards cigarette smoking. Of the 180 students who claimed to have smoked cigarette before, one-ffth smoked on a daily basis. More students who resided off-campus had smoked cigarette before (36.5%) compared to those in hostels (25.7%) (χ 2 =7.594; df=1; P=0.006). Conclusion: Approximately half of the respondents had good knowledge about cigarette smoking and its health implications. More than a ffth of the respondents had smoked cigarette before. Students who resided off campus exhibited a greater tendency to start smoking compared to those who resided in hostels on campus. Peer pressure and close associations could infuence cigarette smoking habits. Key words: Awareness, cigarette smoking, prevalence, undergraduates, university of Nigeria Nsukka Correspondence: Kosisochi Amorha Chinwendu, Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nigeria. E-mail: kosisochi.amorha@unn.edu.ng Access this article online Website: www.jbclinpharm.org Quick Response Code: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: invoice@jbclinpharm.org Cite this article as: Amorha KC, Jiburu EM, Okonta MJ, Nduka SO. Cigarette Smoking Prevalence and Awareness amongst Undergraduate Students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. J Basic Clin Pharma 2017;8:239-244. Cigarette Smoking Prevalence and Awareness amongst Under- graduate Students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Kosisochi Chinwendu Amorha 1 , Ezinne Mmasinachi Jiburu 1 , Sunday Odunke Nduka 2 , Mathew Jegbefume Okonta 1 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria, 2De- partment of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria