Harmful Effects of Tobacco and Marijuana Smoking on College Students’ Voices

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the harmful effects of tobacco and marijuana smoking on university students’ voices. Method: cross-sectional study conducted with 571 students, who answered a questionnaire containing sociodemographic data, smoking habits and vocal symptoms. Hoarseness and low-pitched voice were considered dependent variables, while the use of tobacco and marijuana were independent. Results: 18.4% of the students interviewed smoked cigarettes, 15.2%, other kinds of tobacco, and 30.1% smoked marijuana. The most reported vocal symptoms were: hoarseness (28%), low-pitched voice (17.2%), and voice failure (15.5%). In the multiple analysis, the factors associated to hoarseness were: being a female, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, and smoking unfiltered tobacco and marijuana; and the factors associated to low-pitched voice were: smoking tobacco and marijuana, smoking marijuana, cigarettes and unfiltered tobacco, and smoking marijuana and unfiltered tobacco. Conclusions: there was a relationship between smoking and hoarseness and low-pitched voice, mainly when associated with marijuana use.