Smoking Trends, Influencers, and Attitudes Among Future Medical Professionals

Background: While medical students should model healthy behaviors, smoking is common among them. Data on smoking among Iraqi medical students remains limited. Objective: To determine the prevalence, attitudes, and influencing factors for smoking among Iraqi medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2024 to March 2025, involving 250 medical students at Baghdad University. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that was newly developed based on relevant literature and validated by a panel of experts. The developed questionnaire was designed to assess smoking status and its influencing factors, attitudes towards smoking, quitting behavior and its influencing factors. Results: Participants' mean age was 21.02±2.16 years; most were single (93.2%) females (58.4%). 41.2% of participants smoked at least once in their life, with 52.42% of those being daily smokers. Cigarettes and hookah were the most tried smoking methods. Peer influence (29%) and stress (24%) were cited as smoking motivators. Additionally, male gender, older age, enrollment in Medicine College, higher academic level, and greater family income were all significantly linked to smoking trials. While 79.61% of smoking participants cited health issues as a quitting motivator, only 33.33% had tried to quit. Most participants had negative attitudes towards smoking. Conclusions: Smoking is highly prevalent among Iraqi medical students despite their negative attitudes towards it. Male gender, older age, enrollment in medical college, higher academic levels, greater family income, peer pressure, and stress increase smoking likelihood. Health concerns serve as motivators for smoking cessation; however, few smokers have attempted to quit.