Alcohol and tobacco consumption in first-year students of Medicine at the Universidad del País Vasco

Objective. To find out the prevalence and patterns of alcohol and tobacco consumption based\r\non gender among first-year students of medicine at the Universidad del País Vasco. Materials\r\nand method. An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study using an anonymous, selfadministered\r\nquestionnaire based on the ESTUDES survey and including AUDIT C test and the\r\nHeaviness of Smoking Index (HSI). Results. Sample of 225 students (77.8% female), mean age\r\n18.9 years. 8.0% have never consumed alcohol, 80.0% have consumed alcohol in the last month\r\nand 46.0% have been drunk in the last 30 days. Among consumers in the last month, 9.4% drink\r\nevery weekend, 48.3% are risk drinkers and 67.2% have been binge drinking. As far as tobacco\r\nis concerned, 80.9% had never smoked, 2.2% smoke every week and 1.8% smoke daily. There\r\nwere no significant gender differences, except for a higher prevalence of drunkenness in the last\r\nyear and binge drinking in the males and risk drinking in females. Conclusions. The prevalence\r\nof smoking is very low and much lower than that of other university students in Spain. On the\r\nother hand, the prevalence of alcohol consumption is high and similar to that of other young\r\npeople of the same age, whether university students or not. Specific programmes are required\r\nfor prevention of the consumption of alcohol and other drugs among college students and particularly\r\nin those taking degree subjects that represent a role model for the general population.