"Social Nicotine Dependence" of dental undergraduates in Japan

Objectives: Smoking behavior persisted due to psychological and physical dependence. A new questionnaire, "the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND)", has been developed. Psychological nicotine dependence can be assessed with the KTSND questionnaire which is composed of ten questions with a total score of 30. This study aimed to establish the association between age, gender, smoking status, relationship with smokers and KTSND scores, in a sample of Japanese dental undergraduates. Methods: A sample of 798 dental undergraduates at the Aichi Gakuin University, aged 18 to 46 years (21.4 ± 2.8 years), was used. Each was assessed with a KTSND questionnaire. Results: The sample included 97 smokers (12.3%), 39 ex-smokers (4.9%), and 654 non-smokers (82.8%). Two hundred and twenty-four students (32.7%) inhaled second-hand smoke at home. The total KTSND score was 11.8 ± 6.3 in this sample. According to smoking status, the KTSND scores were 15.9 ± 6.2 in smokers, 14.9 ± 6.3 in ex-smokers, and 11.1 ± 6.0 in non-smokers. Smokers' and ex-smokers' KTSND scores were significantly higher than those in non-smokers (p < 0.01). Those who received second-hand smoke at home showed higher KTSND scores than their counterparts (12.9 ± 6.3; 11.5 ± 6.1, p < 0.01). Male students demonstrated higher KTSND scores than female students (12.4 ± 6.6; 10.6 ± 5.3, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking in Japan was lower among dental undergraduates than general population. The total KTSND score was associated with smoking status, relationship with smokers and gender. This study confirmed the differentiability of the KTSND questionnaire. Acknowledgement: This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H18-Cancer-youth-004) and a 2008 Japan Society for Tobacco Control Grant.