English summaries 6/2020 vsk 75 s. 330 - 337

Snuff use and smoking among medical and dental students

Milla PiilonenRitva NäpänkangasTarja Tanner
Nuuskausvuodet
Tupakointi ja nuuskaus

Background Snuff use has increased among adolescents and adults in Finland in recent years and smoking has decreased at the same time. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of snuff and smoking among dental and medical students.

Methods An invitation to a questionnaire survey was sent to the dental and medical students (n = 1165) at the University of Oulu by e-mail. The questionnaire included questions about smoking and snuff use in addition to background information. A total of 542 students (47%) responded to the survey.

Results Of the respondents, 12.3% (n = 66) used snuff and 4.5% (n = 24) smoked daily or occasionally. On average, snuff users had used snuff for 5.1 years (0–13 years) and smokers had smoked 8.8 years (2–22 years). Less than half of snuff users wanted to give up snuff use.

Conclusions Snuff use was much more common among dental and medical students at the University of Oulu than smoking. Men used snuff more often than women, but no similar gender difference was found in smoking.

Lääkäriliitto Fimnet Lääkärilehti Potilaanlaakarilehti Lääkäripäivät Lääkärikompassi Erikoisalani Lääkäri 2030