Perceived benefits and health risks of cigarette smoking among young adults: insights from a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Relationship between perceived health risks and current smoking behaviour among young adults (18–24 years)

Items	Percentage of young adults who believed in the health risks of smoking		Adjusted hazard ratio (95 % CI)^a	p value^b
Items	Non-smoking (n = 264)	Current smoking (n = 51)	Adjusted hazard ratio (95 % CI)^a	p value^b
I believe smoking would make my teeth yellow	190(72.8)	28(54.9)	0.53(0.30;0.94)	0.031
I believe smoking would make my nails yellow	137(52.5)	17(33.3)	0.53(0.29;0.95)	0.034
If I started smoking regularly, I believe it would be very hard for me to stop	226(85.9)	44(86.3)	1.20(0.54;2.67)	0.65
I believe smoking would give me bad breath	255(97.0)	44(86.3)	0.45(0.2;1.00)	0.44
I believe smoking would be bad for my health	258(98.1)	43(84.3)	0.45(0.21;0.98)	0.04

^aHazard ratios (HR) adjusted for age, sex, and faculty, ^bbold indicates results are significant

ISSN: 1617-9625