Nivel de conocimiento percibido sobre los cigarrillos electrónicos y su influencia en la abstinencia en estudiantes de la Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo

Abstract

Rationale. The prevalence of e-cigarettes vaping is increasing worldwide, with young people being the group most likely to vape, possibly due to lack of information about which outcome is dependence and in case of abstinence, the onset of withdrawal's symptoms. Objective. To evaluate the level of perceived knowledge of undergraduates about e-cigarettes and its influence in abstinence at Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo. Method. The study population is 5782 UEES undergraduates in the 1st Ordinary, 2023, whose sample size is 156 according to the inclusion criteria. To measure statistical significance, Fisher's Exact Test and Chi-Square Test were used, together with the Kruskal Wallis test for multivariate analysis in R studios program. Statistical significance was set as p ＜0.05. Results. The sample size was reduced from 141 participants to 113 according to the exclusion criteria, with most participants being women (57.52%), students from first to third cycle (45.56%) with a mean age of 19 years old. There was no relationship between the level of dependence and the age of the participants (p = 0.359), but there was a relationship between the level of dependence and vapes' abstinence (p = 0.027). Conclusion. Participants lack a clear perception about vaping, possibly due to much information spread around the web and personal relationships. However, this can improve with awareness campaigns preventing the development of dependence and subsequent internalization disorders in case of abstinence.