High prevalence of smoking in Northern Greece

Abstract

SummaryAim: To investigate the prevalence of smoking in the general population and in specific population sub-groups in Northern Greece. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the period 1999-2001 on a 5% sample (23,840) of those people aged between 21 to 80 out of a total general population of 653,249. 21,854/23,840 general population subjects were interviewed. In addition, we interviewed 9,276 high school students, 1,072 medical students, 597 medical doctors within the National Health System, 825 teachers, and 624 subjects who regularly exercised in a privately-owned gym. A specially modified ICRF study group questionnaire was used. Results: 34.4% of the general population sample were current smokers (47.8% of males and 21.6% of females). Smoking prevalence rates in the population sub-groups were: 29.6% of high school students; 40.7% of medical students; 44.9% of medical doctors; 46.4% of teachers; and 36.9% of the gym group. Conclusion: The prevalence of smoking in Northern Greece is high. High school and medical students present with high smoking rates, and the same situation is observed in medical doctors and teachers. An intensification of preventive antismoking measures is required.

COPD prevalence and the differences between newly and previously diagnosed COPD patients in a spirometry program

“…It has recently been shown that 96% of women above the age of 60 in northern Greece were non-smokers. 41 Additionally, it is likely that more smokers and especially those with respiratory symptoms may have attended the spirometry program, and this may further account for the lower number of female participants in our study.…”

Strengthening public health medicine training for medical students: Development and evaluation of a lifestyle curriculum

“…In Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and southern India, 11-14% of medical students were reported as regular smokers (Abolfotouh et al 1998;Mostafa & Shokeir 2002;Khan et al 2005;Al-Turki 2006;Mohan et al 2006). In Europe the situation may be worse, with 41% of Greek, 22% Italian, 21-32% Polish, 18% Spanish, and 15% German medical students smoking (Mas et al 2004;Kowalska et al 2006;Rea & Tortorano 2006;Sichletidis et al 2006;Sieminska et al 2006).…”

Cigarette smoking among university students in Greece: a comparison between medical and other students

“…A review article published in 2007 pointed out seven population-based epidemiological studies in the time period 2000-2006 regarding the smoking habits of high-school and university students [8]. According to these studies, smoking prevalence among high-school students ranged from 10% to 32% for 15-year-old to a maximum of 50% for 16-to 19-year-old students [8][9][10][11].…”