Cigarette Smoking: Health Effects Awareness Among Sandwich Undergraduates, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

Medical experts warns that if the current rate of tobacco use by young people continues, five million of today's children will die of smoking- related illnesses in their later years. This study aimed to assess the level of awareness of lung cancer, heart disease and ulcer disease as an effect of cigarette smoking among sandwich undergraduates, the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional survey which involved the use of a Multi-stage sampling procedure to select three hundred and eleven sandwich undergraduates across the nine departments of the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin. The result revealed that 66.6% of the respondents had knowledge that lung cancer is an effect of cigarette smoking, while 33.4% do not know 71.1% of the respondents had knowledge that heart disease is an effect of cigarette smoking while 28.9% do not know, 41.8% had the knowledge that ulcer disease is an effect of cigarette smoking while 58.2% of the respondents do not know that ulcer disease can be an effect of cigarette smoking. The research outcome indicated that there is a need to enlighten sandwich undergraduates on the health consequences of cigarette smoking to enable them to desist from the act.