Aim:
The aim of this study were to determine the awareness and the usage rates of e-cigarettes and to investigate some related factors among sports faculty students at a university.
Materials and Methods:
A face-to-face questionnaire was conducted to determine the awareness and the usage rates of e-cigarettes with 225 students of Istanbul University Sports Sciences Faculty.
Results:
The mean age of 225 participants is 22.77 ± 3.07 and 57.3% (n: 129) of participants are male. 31.1% of the participants never smoked, 46.7% of the participants used ≥100 cigarettes for life; 45.8% stated that they had never smoked in the last 1 month, 17.8% had used some days and 36.4% had used it every day. 88.9% of participants declare that they heard of e-cigarette. 43.1% (n: 97) of the participants said that they had smoking e-cigarettes experiences. 14.8% of those who do not use e-cigarettes said that they are considering trying to smoke e-cigarettes. E-cigarette awareness was significantly higher in smoker which used ≥100 for lifetime compared to non-smoker and <100 for lifetime; smokers in last 1 month compared to non-smokers. The proportion of e-cigarette trying was significantly higher in smokers in last 1 month compared to non-smokers.
Conclusion:
In our study, we determined that 43.1% of sports science faculty students had e-cigarette experience which is higher than the literature. Approximately 50-69% of the participants answered ' I do not know' to measurement questions of e-cigarette knowledge. E-cigarette using is a public health problem which is rapidly spreading in Turkey as in the world. Training and prevention program about e-cigarettes should be carried out to increase the knowledge level especially for youth.
Keywords: Awareness, e-cigarette, students, smoking, tobacco