Estimating the prevalence of high‑risk behaviors using network scale‑up method in medical university students
نویسندگان
1 Reproductive Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran
2 Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
3 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
4 Department of Public Health Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
5 Department of Nursing, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
6 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: There is not much information about high‑risk behaviors in young groups, especiallystudents. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of high‑risk behaviors in students ofuniversities of medical sciences in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, by network scale‑up (NSU) method.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross‑sectional study was performed on 450 students from theuniversities of medical sciences. A researcher‑developed checklist was used to collect the data.We considered number 16 for the social network size of students according to a previous study.Based on the response of individuals to each of the high‑risk behaviors (including cigarette smoking,hookah use, opium consumption, alcohol drinking, tramadol/ecstasy taking, and extramarital sex)in their social network, the prevalence of these behaviors was estimated. The required calculationswere performed using the NSU method. Furthermore, 95% uncertainty interval (UI) was calculatedusing the bootstrap method.RESULTS: Totally, 196 (44%) participants were male. The mean age (standard deviation) of theparticipants was 22 ± 2 years. Results showed that hookah use (20% 95% UI [18.9–21.1]) andopium consumption (0.4% 95% UI [0.24–0.6]) had the highest and lowest frequencies, respectively.Cigarette smoking (17% 95% UI [15.8–18]), alcohol use (8.3% 95% UI [7.5–9.1]), extramaritalsex (8.2% 95% UI [7.4–9]), and tramadol/ecstasy taking (4% 95% UI [6.4–4.6]) were the next mostcommon high‑risk behaviors, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Given that hookah use and cigarette smoking are the most common high‑riskbehaviors in students, especially males, appropriate cultural activities and educational programsshould be employed by relevant authorities to reduce these behaviors.
