Objective: To evaluate whether medical education influences the prevalence, awareness of, and attitudes to smoking of medical students in the first 3 years of their degree.
Material and methods: In this descriptive longitudinal questionnaire-based study of university students, data for medical and veterinary students in their first 3 years were compared.
Results: Of the 226 registered first-year medical students, 181 (80%) returned the questionnaire. Of the 180 first-year veterinary students, 161 (89%) replied to the questionnaire. In the third year, 151 questionnaires from medical students and 139 from veterinary students were returned. There were no differences in age or sex between the 2 groups, and both had more women. The prevalence of smokers increased between the first year and the beginning of the third (from 20% to 31% among medical students and from 28% to 32% among veterinary students). An improvement in the awareness of smoking as a risk factor was observed for medical students, but no change in attitude was observed.
Conclusions: The influence of medical education on this health concern is limited as there is no reduction in the prevalence of smoking. Medical education also seems unable to change attitudes to smoking. More students relate smoking to risk factors for certain diseases, showing greater awareness of the health problems caused by smoking.