Transitions in smoking status in nursing students: A prospective longitudinal study

Determinants of tobacco use transitions in smoker nursing students in Catalonia: A prospective longitudinal study

INTRODUCTION

The use of emerging tobacco and nicotine products affects tobacco use behaviors among college students. Thus, we aimed to examine transitions in tobacco use patterns and identify their predictors among smokers in a cohort of nursing students in Catalonia (Spain).

METHODS

We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of Catalan nursing students between 2015-2016 and 2018-2019. We examined transitions in tobacco use patterns between baseline and follow-up among smokers from: 1) daily to non-daily smoking, 2) non-daily to daily smoking, 3) cigarette-only use to poly-tobacco use, 4) poly-tobacco use to cigarette-only use, 5) between products, 6) reducing consumption by ≥5 cigarettes per day (CPD); and 7) quitting smoking. We applied a Generalized Linear Model with a log link (Poisson regression) and robust variance to identify predictors of reducing cigarette consumption by ≥5 CPD and quitting smoking, obtaining both crude and adjusted (APR) prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

Among daily smokers at baseline, 12.1% transitioned to non-daily smoking at follow-up, while 36.2% of non-daily smokers shifted to daily smoking. Among cigarette-only users, 14.2% transitioned to poly-tobacco use, while 48.4% of poly-tobacco users switched to exclusive cigarette use. Among all smokers (daily and non-daily smokers), 60.8% reduced their cigarette consumption by ≥5 CPD and 28.3% quit smoking. Being a non-daily smoker (APR=0.33; 95% CI 0.19-0.55) and having lower nicotine dependence (APR=0.78; 95% CI 0.64-0.96) were inversely associated with reducing cigarette consumption, while being a non-daily smoker (APR=1.19; 95% CI: 1.08-1.31) was directly associated with quitting smoking.

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing students who smoked experienced diverse transitions in tobacco use patterns over time. Evidence-based tobacco use preventive and cessation interventions are needed to tackle tobacco use among future nurses.

Are behavioural risk factors clusters associated with self-reported health complaints? University students in Finland

OBJECTIVES

No previous research of university students in Finland assessed lifestyle behavioural risk factors (BRFs) and categorized students into clusters, explored the associations of the clusters with self-reported health complaints (HCs), whilst controlling for potential confounders. The current study undertook this task.

METHODS

Students at the University of Turku (1,177) completed an online well-being questionnaire that assessed socio-demographic variables, 5 BRFs - problematic alcohol consumption, smoking, illicit drug use, food consumption habits, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and 22 HCs. A food frequency questionnaire assessed students' consumption of a range of foods, and a dietary guideline adherence score was computed based on WHO dietary recommendations for Europe. Three separate regression models appraised the associations between the cluster membership and HCs factors, adjusting for sex, income sufficiency and self-rated health.

RESULTS

Mean age was 23 ± 5.2 years, 77% had never smoked and 79% never used illicit drug/s. Factor analysis of HCs resulted in four-factors (psychological, circulatory/breathing, gastro-intestinal, pains/aches); cluster analysis of BRFs identified two distinctive student clusters. Cluster 1 represented more healthy students who never smoked/used illicit drugs, had no problematic drinking, and undertook MVPA on 4.42 ± 3.36 days/week. As for cluster 2 students, half the cluster smoked occasionally/daily, used illicit drug/s, and > 50% had problematic drinking and students undertook MVPA on 4.02 ± 3.12 days/week. More cluster 2 students adhered to healthy eating recommendations, but the difference was not significant between clusters. Regression analysis revealed that females, those with sufficient income, and with excellent/very good self-rated general health were significantly less likely to report all four HCs. Cluster 2 students were significantly more likely to report psychological complaints, circulatory/breathing and gastro-intestinal complaints. There was no significant association between BRFs clusters and pains/aches factor.

CONCLUSIONS

Risk taking students with less healthy lifestyles and behaviour were consistently associated with poorer psychological and somatic health.