Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and serum lipid profile among medical students in Greece.
BACKGROUND
The lack of data regarding health habits of medical students in Greece prompted a cross-sectional study to assess tobacco use, alcohol consumption and serum lipoprotein levels among students in the University of Crete School of Medicine.


METHODS
A self-administered questionnaire on smoking and alcohol consumption was distributed to third-year medical students for twelve consecutive years (1989-2000). A total of 849 students (462 males, 387 females) participated in the survey. Biochemical measurements were taken and multi-variant analysis of the data was performed.


RESULTS
The prevalence of smoking among males and females was 33.2% (N = 150) and 28.4% (N = 108), respectively (mean cigarette consumption 13/day). As many as 349 males (77.2%) and 220 females (58.0%) reported consuming alcohol on a regular basis. The prevalence of low HDL-cholesterol (< 0.9 mmol/l) was 14.5% in males and 5.1% in females, and of high LDL-cholesterol levels (> 4.1 mmol/l) in 11.1% of male and 5.5% of female participants. Smoking was related to higher triglyceride (p = 0.032), and lower HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.037) serum levels. Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and the TC/HDL-cholesterol ratio were strongly related with the level of smoking (p = 0.006, p = 0.008, and p = 0.006 respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The results document a high prevalence of smoking among physicians-to-be in Greece. Tobacco use was strongly associated with a lipid profile predisposing to increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Health promotion programmes should therefore be instituted not only during the first years of medical studies, but rather at a much earlier stage in life.
Mammas
Ioannis N
IN
Department of Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Crete, Greece.
Bertsias
George K
GK
Linardakis
Manolis
M
Tzanakis
Nikolaos E
NE
Labadarios
Demetre N
DN
Kafatos
Anthony G
AG
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D008055:Lipids