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Tobaccoism in medical students

Abstract:

AIM. To evaluate medical students' understanding of the harmfulness of tobacco; their attitude to it; and the spread of tobacco addiction among them. DESIGN. This was a crossover study, using information collected through a self-answer questionnaire. SITE. It was carried out in the Faculty of Medicine in the Autonomous University of Barcelona. PARTICIPANTS. The people under study were the 490 students registered in the first year of Medicine and doing the Biostatistics course. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS. The information was collected by means of a voluntary self-answer questionnaire, which was distributed during class-hours of the Biostatistics course. 68% of those registered answered. This broke down into: 25.7% smokers; 25.1% ex-smokers; and 49.2% non-smokers. 88% of students expressed total agreement as to the harmfulness of tobacco, though there were important differences between smokers and non-smokers (p < 0.01). The illness which they related most closely to tobacco addiction was Lung Cancer; and the least closely related was Bladder Cancer. Only 30% would warn healthy smokers about the risks attached to their addiction. 50% believe it is the doctor's responsibility to convince the general population to give up smoking. CONCLUSIONS. The spread of tobacco addiction is lower among medical students than among the general population of the same age and than among health professionals. We think it is essential to integrate an action programme against tobacco addiction into the overall study plan.