Smoking habits, attitudes and training among medical students of the Democritus University of Thrace
 
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1
Faculty of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece
 
2
Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larisa, Greece
 
 
Publication date: 2016-06-06
 
 
Corresponding author
Georgios-Marios Pantsidis   

Faculty of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, 68100, Greece
 
 
Tobacco Induced Diseases 2014;12(Suppl 1):AA4
 
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ABSTRACT
Background:
Tobacco use continues to be the leading global cause of preventable death, contributing to the death of nearly 6 million people each year. Medical students, who are future doctors, have an important role to play in smoking cessation and prevention. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of tobacco use among medical students of Democritus University of Thrace Medical School, and to evaluate their smoking-related attitudes and their training in tobacco issues they receive during their studies in University.

Methods:
This study was conducted from March to May 2011. The students were asked to complete a modified version of the Global Professional Students' Survey (GHPSS) questionnaire. The final study population consisted of 233 randomly selected students in the 1st-6th year of medical studies.

Results:
Of the 233 students invited to participate, 229 submitted adequately completed questionnaires. Of this sample, 24% were smokers, 38.2% of whom had experimented with smoking at the age of 11-15 years. The banning of smoking in all enclosed public places was considered useful by 88.6% with a statistically significant difference between smokers and non-smokers (65.5% vs. 96%, p<0.001). Of the participants, 31% believed that slim/light and hand-rolled cigarettes are less harmful and only 8.1% had been taught cessation techniques and 17.8% the reasons why people smoke.

Conclusions:
The study shows that the prevalence of smoking among medical students in northern Greece is high compared with other countries. It is evident that the issue of tobacco use is not covered adequately and systematically by the Medical School curriculum.

 
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Impact of anxiety on the prevalence of tobacco use among medical students, Ain Shams University, Egypt
Amany H. El-Rasheed, Doaa N. Radwan, Mahmoud M. Elhabiby, Hebatallah M. Nosir, Michael Elnemais Fawzy
Middle East Current Psychiatry
 
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Effectiveness of health education on knowledge about tobacco use among police personnel in Haldia city, West Bengal: An interventional study
Silpi Chatterjee, Aarti Kumari, Sonia Tiwari, Daya Shankar, Sudhanshu Saxena
International Journal of Preventive and Clinical Dental Research
 
eISSN:1617-9625
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