[Smoking. Prevalence and attitudes among health science students]

To find the prevalence of tobacco use among Health Sciences students at the University of La Laguna, its main features and their attitude to preventive programmes and the struggle against tobacco.

A descriptive crossover study (prevalence study).

The target population group was the 371 students matriculated at the two Nursing Schools and the 305 students in the first, third and sixth years at the Medicine Faculty of the University of La Laguna.

Through an anonymous and voluntary questionnaire, self-filled by 76.4% of the population-group under study, 31.1% stated they were smokers, though 7.6% only occasionally. 4.3% said they were ex-smokers and 64.6% non-smokers. There were no significant differences for gender, but smokers predominated among the oldest students, as did non-smokers among the youngest. 74.8% of smokers said they would like to give up for good, which 67.5% had attempted on some occasion. The restrictive measures on tobacco consumption and advertising were viewed positively.

There is strong motivation to give up tobacco among this group, which generally accepts restrictive measures on tobacco consumption and advertising.