Abstract
Objective: There are many nicotine containing products on the market (cigarette, hookah, cigar, e-cigarette, rolled tobacco, and disposable e-cigarette), and the number and variety of these products are increasing day by day. The fact that the age of starting nicotine containing products has been decreasing recently and that university students, who constitute a large proportion of young people, consume these products, shows that measures should be taken for young people and attention should be drawn to nicotine containing products in the market.
Material and Method: Our study examined which nicotine containing products are consumed by the students of the Mersin University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and their consumption habits of these products were investigated. Within the scope of our study, an online survey was applied to 246 students of Mersin University’s Faculty of Pharmacy between 05.02.2024-24.05.2024 via Google Forms. The students of the Mersin University’s Faculty of Pharmacy who took part in the survey were asked which nicotine containing product they used and how often they used it.
Result and Discussion: Out of the 246 students who participated in the survey, 116 (47.2%) reported having used at least one nicotine containing product, while 130 (52.8%) stated that they had never used any nicotine containing products. The preferred nicotine containing products were reported as follows: cigarettes (n=69), hookah (n=27), rolling tobacco (n=20), disposable e-cigarettes (n=18), and e-cigarettes (n=11). In our study, a significant correlation was found between the variables (X2(1)=15.694, p≤0.05). According to our study, students who use nicotine products are less likely than those who do not. The reasons why nicotine containing products are still consumed by university students include stress, liking the taste, habitual friend environment. It is thought that our study may be a source for the consumption habits of nicotine containing products by university students.