Smoking Habits Among Sixth-Year Medical Students in Spain

Objective

To describe and analyze the smoking habits of sixth-year Spanish medical students.

Material and methods

The target population of this descriptive cross-sectional study was students completing their sixth year in Spanish medical schools. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was sent to the students' homes by ordinary mail. The relationships between the variables were analyzed using contingency tables, the χ² test, the Student t test, and analysis of variance with a significance level of P <.05. The software package was SPSS.

Results

A total of 3840 questionnaires were distributed to students, and 1340 were returned completed (34.9%). Of the respondents, 27% were smokers (8.7% smoked only on weekends, and 18.3% were daily smokers). The mean (SD) number of cigarettes smoked per day was 10.54 (7.89). Consumption was significantly higher among men than among women. The mean age of initiation was 17.20 years. Of the students who were smokers, 32.54% stated that they had started smoking during their medical studies. The percentage of smokers who stated that they wanted to quit was 76.3%, and 56.6% said that they had already made at least one quit attempt.

Conclusions

It is cause for concern that a large number of students start smoking after they enter medical school. One of the reasons for this is the lack of concern about smoking as a health problem within medical schools. The smoking habits of medical students are affected by the same phenomena that affect those of the general public, such as the increase in the number of women smokers, the influence of sociocultural factors, and the increasingly broader age range of initiation. The lower prevalence of smoking among medical students with respect to other populations is probably due to the fact that, in general, these students have better health habits than the general public, and/or the reasons that led them to study medicine also make them disinclined to smoke.

Objetivo

Realizar un análisis descriptivo en los estudiantes de sexto curso de medicina españoles respecto al consumo de tabaco.

Material y Métodos

Estudio descriptivo transversal cuya población objetivo son los estudiantes de sexto curso de las facultades de medicina de España. Se utilizó un cuestionario de autocontestación, anónimo, que se envió a los domicilios personales de los alumnos por correo ordinario. Para el análisis de las variables y sus relaciones se utilizaron tablas de contingencias, la prueba de la χ², la prueba de la t de Student y el análisis de la varianza con un valor de p < 0,05 y el paquete estadístico SPSS.

Resultados

Se consultó a 3.840 alumnos y se recibieron 1.340 cuestionarios (34,9%). El 27% de los alumnos son fu-madores (el 8,7% fuma los fines de semana y el 18,3% a diario). El consumo medio de cigarrillos es de 10,54 ± 7,89 cigarrillos/día, aunque es significativamente más alto en los estudiantes varones que en las mujeres. La edad media de inicio en el consumo de tabaco fue de 17,20 años. El 32,54% de los alumnos que fuma en la actualidad ha iniciado su consumo durante la licenciatura de medicina. El 76,3% de los estudiantes fumadores quiere dejar de serlo y el 56,6% refiere haberlo intentado alguna vez.

Conclusiones

Resulta preocupante el elevado número de alumnos que comienzan a fumar en las facultades de medicina, entre otras causas, por la falta de sensibilidad de estos centros frente a este problema de salud. Los fenóme-nos que ocurren en la población general respecto al tabaquismo aparecen también en los estudiantes de medicina, como la incorporación de la mujer al consumo de tabaco, la influencia de factores socioculturales o la ampliación en la edad de inicio. Probablemente, la menor prevalencia de fumadores entre estos alumnos respecto a otras poblaciones se debe a que, en general, tienen mejores hábitos de salud que la población general y no fuman por la misma motivación por la que eligieron cursar la licenciatura de medicina.