Rising trends of smoking in elementary students

Background: smoking is emerging problem in azad jammu kashmir and causing serious health problem in our population and is still the leading cause of premature deaths. the prohibition of the smoking at public places and in the schools should be strictly monitored. teacher should not be allowed to smoke in the presence of their students. parents should also take care of the habits of their children inside as well as outside the residence. aim: to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of the smoking in the school going children in public and private sector schools of muzaffarabad. methods: it is the cross sectional study conducted in muzaffarabad at three different schools. the students of the ninth class were included in the study. the female students were not included. between the ages of fifteen to eighteen years 150 student were participated in the study voluntarily. a questionnaire was given to the volunteers with different questions including the no of cigarettes smoke daily,since how long the incumbent is smoking and how he started smoking. results: 150 students participated in the study. the age limit was 15 to 18 years. the mean age was 16.5 year. two public and one private school was included in the study. the incidence of cigarette smoking was increased in private school as compared to the public sector school. among 150 students 124 declared them self to be smokers to some extent. 66.93% were light smokers while 12.09% were severe smokers. the incidence of smoking was calculated to be 83%. the prevalence of the smoking was increased between the ages of 12 to 16 years. conclusion: there was a growing trend of smoking toward in our younger population school students in both males and females,which is alarming and hazardous.