Research Article
Tobacco Use and Its Associated Factors among Undergraduate
Public Health Students in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Birendra Chand ,
1
Sandesh Bhusal ,
1,2
Pranil Man Singh Pradhan ,
3
Kiran Paudel ,
1,2
Nisha Adhikari,
1
Tara Ballav Adhikari ,
2,4,5
and Sushan Man Shrestha
1
1
Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
2
Nepal Health Frontiers, Tokha-5, Kathmandu, Nepal
3
Department of Community Medicine, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu, Nepal
4
Section for Global Health, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
5
COBIN Project, Nepal Development Society, Bharatpur 10, Chitwan, Nepal
Correspondence should be addressed to Sandesh Bhusal; sandeshbhusal86@gmail.com
Received 26 February 2022; Accepted 25 June 2022; Published 8 July 2022
Academic Editor: Issam A. Al-Khatib
Copyright © 2022 Birendra Chand et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Background. Despite the crucial role of public health students in tobacco control, there is a paucity of information regarding
tobacco use among this population in Nepal. is study aims to assess the prevalence of tobacco use among undergraduate public
health students in Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Methods. A web-based survey was conducted among 386 undergraduate public
health students in Kathmandu valley, Nepal, using the Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) questionnaire.
Associated factors were examined using multivariate logistic regression analyses at the level of significance of 0.05. Results. A total
of 16.8% of students were current cigarette smokers, 39.9% had ever smoked cigarettes, and 62.2% had smoked their first cigarettes
during adolescence. Among the participants, 11.7% currently used other tobacco products. Male students (aOR: 15.4; 95% CI:
4.9–47.8), students with higher age (aOR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.0–5.4), students belonging to non-Brahmin/Chhetri ethnic group (aOR:
2.3; 95% CI: 1.2–4.4), and those staying without family (aOR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.1–5.0) had higher odds of being current smoker.
Similarly, students with a parental history of tobacco use (aOR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.3–5.0) and friends with smoking habits (aOR: 7.9;
95% CI: 2.3–27.0) were more likely to be a current smoker. Conclusion. ere is a notable prevalence of tobacco use among public
health students in Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Concerned stakeholders should work jointly to implement a cessation program to
discourage tobacco use among these populations who have a potential role in educating communities about the hazards of tobacco
smoking, tobacco use prevention, and control.
1. Introduction
e tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health
threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million
people a year globally. More than 7 million of those deaths
result from direct tobacco use, while around 1.2 million are
the result of nonsmokers being exposed to second-hand
smoke [1]. Tobacco use is the leading global cause of pre-
ventable death [2] and a major proven risk factor contributing
substantially to the rising burden of noncommunicable dis-
eases [3].
In South Asia, approximately 1.2 million people die yearly
from tobacco consumption. Although Bangladesh, Nepal, and
Sri Lanka have country-specific tobacco control laws and
policies, tobacco consumption among the youths is common,
and the magnitude of the problem is increasing [4]. e WHO
STEPwise Approach to NCD Risk Factor Surveillance (WHO-
STEPS survey) Nepal 2019 showed that 28.9% of adults aged
15–69 years currently used either smoked tobacco or
smokeless tobacco products. Despite adopting tobacco con-
trol laws and policies, there has been no significant reduction
in tobacco users between 2013 and 2019 in Nepal [5].
Hindawi
Journal of Environmental and Public Health
Volume 2022, Article ID 1495779, 7 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/1495779