Medical students' knowledge concerning the tobacco use effects and related legislation

摘要

Background Smoking is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, therefore prevention of smoking-related disease is a major challenge for medicine. Aims This study examined medical students' knowledge concerning the tobacco use effects and related legislation in the fifth year of training. Methods A survey was carried out in the University of Catania, Italy.Students, recruited during lectures in the fifth year, were invited to complete a questionnaire assessing smoking status and self-reported knowledge concerning the tobacco use effects and related legislation. Results A total of 170 students (48.8% males and 51.2% females) particulated in the survey, aged between 22 and 30 years (mean 23.7 years). Smokers (＞ 1.0 cig/day) was 20.6%. Approximately 30.0% (M:34.9 %; F: 25.3%) of students knew the legislation on tobacco use and 34.7% (M: 36.1%; F: 33.3%) of students believe that it is possible to smoke without having an impact on health.In particular, females think it is possible to smoke 2.3 cig/day without affect health while males think smoking less than one cigarette a day can have an impact on health. Despite this, 49.1% of students (M: 69.0% F: 25.0%) reported consumption of cigarettes higher than those they consider as a health risk. Conclusions Reduction of smoking habits is a goal for preventive medicine and the clinicians have an important role in advising patients on and aiding cessation so medical students must improve their knowledge about tobacco control strategies and smoking cessation interventions. These need to include education about tobacco in the medical curricula.