Abstract

SMOKING AND LEVEL OF NICOTINE DEPENDENCY IN LOCAL POPULATION OF ARAR REGION, SAUDI ARABIA

Nudrat Fatima*, Abdulkhaliq J M Alsalman, Eman M Abdulkareem, Shuaa Juaif

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study is to assess the hazards of smoking, with a special reference to nicotine dependency, Coronary Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma, in a remote tribal area located in Northern Saudi Arabia, to collect the data symptoms/diagnosis over a last 10 year period and to counsel the habitual smokers to quit smoking as soon as possible. For this purpose, 50 smokers from people comprising of both sexes aging between 15-85 years were selected to conduct a retrospective case control study. The subjects were given questioners related to the topic and were tested for Nicotine dependence by the Fagerstrom Tolerance Test as a diagnostic tool. The data was accumulated and statistics was applied. In our study we asked about attempts taken to quit smoking and the data shows that 9 persons tried to quit smoking one time, 26 more than one time and 15 have never tried to quit smoking. This may be due to the problems they came through during quitting this habit. For this the smokers should consult with health care providers about programs and products that can help quit smoking. Also, they should stay away from secondhand smoke, which is smoke in the air from other people smoking. In the end we tried to convince our subjects to quit smoking but only 22 agreed to quit smoking. Further studies like this can be conducted in other nearby areas so that some people are convinced to quit smoking.

Keywords: Smoking, COPD, Nicotine dependency, Arar region.