[Cigarette and e-cigarette use among a sample of French health students]

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. Data from the literature show that caregivers and health students have a high prevalence. The purpose of this article was to study the prevalence among health students (medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, nursing) at a University and a Teaching Hospital in France.

Material and method: This was a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire completed at the start of university meetings. This study was carried out as part of a campaign to combat smoking supported by the Brittany Regional Health Agency.

Results: The participation rate was 76.4%: 1349 respondents out of 1766 health students surveyed. The prevalence of smoking 17.8% and that of vaping 5.6%. Nursing students smoked and vaped more than students in other streams: respectively, for smoking, 21.8% (73/335) vs. 16.5% (167/1014) (P<0.001), for vaping, 10.4% (35/335) vs. 4.0% (39/980) (P<0.001). Students in 3rd year nursing smoked and vaped significantly more than those in the first 2 years (P=0.02 and P<0.001).

Conclusion: The smoking rate was high, but comparable to the data for health students. Nursing students were significantly greater smokers, especially in the last year. Their vaping rate was higher than in other studies.

Keywords: Dental students; Health occupations; Medical students; Nursing students; Prevalence; Prévalence; Smoking; Students; Tabagisme; Vaping; Vapotage; Étudiants en santé.