Behavior, Knowledge and Attitude of Iranian Professional Athletes towards Smoking

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the rate of tobacco consumption among professional athletes in Iran and assessing their knowledge and attitude in this regard.Methods: A total of 738 athletes from 10 different types of sports were evaluated. Athletes were all members of the priority leagues. After obtaining consent from the Physical Education Organization and coordination with the related federations, athletes were asked to fill out the standard questionnaire.Findings: All understudy subjects were males. The mean age was 28.4±2.7 yrs. The mean age of initiation of sport in these subjects was reported to be 12.3±4.01 yrs. A total of 178 (24.6%) subjects had experienced cigarette smoking and 308 (42.3%) had experienced hookah smoking. Sixty four subjects (9%) were current smokers. The mean score of knowledge about hazards of smoking was 5.6±0.9 among those who had experienced smoking. This score was 7.9±0.5 among those with no smoking experience (P=0.04).Conclusion: Rate of smoking among professional athletes is lower than general population average. So participation in organized sports may be a protective factor against tobacco use in people. Percentage of smoker athletes was significantly higher in individual sports compared to team sports. Experiencing hookah smoking was significantly higher than cigarette smoking among athletes. Athletes had good knowledge about hazards of smoking and had a positive attitude in this respect. Further studies are needed to evaluate reasons of cigarette and hookah smoking among athletes.