Cigarette smoking in medical students in Casablanca

Objectives: Smoking is a real public health problem, even in the medical pr ofession. Our work was aimed at determining the prevalence of smoking in me dical students in Casablanca and access their attitude towards this problem . Materials and methods: A questionnaire enquiry was carried out during the 1 994-1995 university year. All medical students in Casablanca (2,640) were i nvited to participate the questionnaire but only 1,321 (50%) responded. Results: Prevalence of occasional or regular smoking was 13%. It increased progressively from first year students (13%) to sixth year students (21.5%) and was significantly higher in male students (25.7% versus 3.2% in female s). 53.8% of the smokers were trying to stop. Ex-smokers accounted for 10.3 % of the total. 76.3% of the smokers hoped they would not be smoking within Sive years although level was 90% in ex-smokers. 90.9% of the students adm itted that smoking is dangerous to health, (76% of the first year students and 94% of the fifth and sixth year students). The respiratory risks of smo king were well understood 73.6% of students thought that convincing others not to smoke is a responsability of doctors, but only 31.6% would do this i n the absence of disease linked to smoking. Conclusions: There has been a net fall in the prevalence of smoking since 1 982 (34% at that time compared with 13% in 1994) and the dangers of tobacco are better understood. Medical students understand the problem better Cour ses about the pathology of tobacco smoking since 1983 have certainly contri buted.