Tobacco use in late adolescence among rural Sri Lankans.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of, and factors associated with, tobacco use among 16-19 year old students from rural Sri Lanka.

Basic research design: A cross-sectional study where the data were collected by means of a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire.

Participants: 390, 16-19 year old students selected from 9 schools in Ampara education zone.

Results: Nearly 22% of the sample had used tobacco during their life and the prevalence of ever smokeless tobacco use (19%) was higher than the prevalence of ever smoking (10%). The prevalence of current smoking was 16% in males and 1% in females while 23% and 3% of males and females were current smokeless tobacco users respectively. Current smoking was independently associated with gender and having a smoker at home while current smokeless tobacco use was significantly associated with gender, maternal education and paternal occupation.

Conclusion: The prevalence of tobacco use was high in these rural students.