Prevalence and factors associated with alcohol and tobacco use among undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with alcohol and tobacco use among undergraduate nursing students. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 974 students, applying a survey on socioeconomic data, alcohol use, smoking and health perception, and performingdescriptive analysis and logistic regression. Of the participants, 78.8% were women and 62.6% were between 20 and 29 years old. Overall, 65.1% of the participants consume alcohol; and 3.0% of the students were classified as being at risk for alcoholism. In relation to smoking habits, 81.8% of the women and 68.8% of the men started smoking before entering university(p<0.05). Students living with their parents or relatives had a higher prevalence of smoking (22.8%) and alcohol use (66.3%), and the lower the self-perception of health, the greater the consumption. The results highlight the need for preventive actions for the adolescent population, since many acquired the habits before entering higher education.