Trends in smoking habits among medical students in 1986, 1991, 1996

Objective To evaluate trends in smoking habits among medical students in th e last ten gears. Methods In 1996, a cross-sectional survey of smoking habits was carried out among students in the first to the fifth year of medical school. Four hund red and nine students answered the questionnaire. A regular smoker was defi ned as someone who smokes one or more cigarettes a day at least for one mon th;former smokers, were the ones who used to smoke in the past but not at t he moment. Similar researchs were conducted in 1986 and 1991. Results/Conclusions Smoking prevalence was 11% compared with 14% in 1991 an d 21% in 1986. Although there was a significant reduction of smoking in the last three years, the actual decrease from 1991 to 1996 was less than that observed from 1986 to 1991. In 1961. the prevalence of smoking increased i n the last years of medical school. There were no significant differences r egarding gender: Most of the students M ere in favor of not allowing smokin g: in both the school areas and hospital wards. They. also mentioned in the ir questionnaire that smoking was poorly approached during medical school.