Introduction

Drug use among young people in Brazil is increasing, particularly among the university students, leading to additional health-related concerns for students.

Objective

To identify factors associated with continued smoking addiction and alcohol consumption among medical students.

Methods

An analytical, prevalence study was carried out involving medical students at the four medical schools of Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil. A semi-structured questionnaire with 46 objective questions was applied to students in their first year of the course (S1/S2) in 2012 and again in 2016, when these same students were taking their internship (I3/I4). The sample was calculated based on a study population consisting of all the students in the two periods evaluated. The project was approved by the REC, through opinion no. 020/2012.

Results

360 students were interviewed in the first phase of the research, and 354 students in the second phase. Tobacco consumption increased from 17.4% during the first year of the course to 28.2% during the internship (p <0.001). The same occurred with alcohol consumption, which was already high at the beginning of the course (84.6%) and increased to 92.6% (p <0.001). In the first year of the course, 40.5% of the students reported having got drunk at least once. During their time at medical school, this percentage rose to 59.5% (PR = 1.66, p <0.001).

Conclusion

Alcohol and tobacco consumption increased significantly during medical school. There is a need for interventions in the habits of medical student, in order to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and smoking in this population.

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