Smoking habit in female students of northwestern Greece: relation to other cardiovascular risk factors

Abstract

The aims of our study were: (1) to detect the prevalence of cigarette smoking among female students in Northwestern Greece, and (2) to assess the relation of cigarette smoking with other harmful lifestyles (such as alcohol consumption, obesity, type of dietary fat), fasting lipids and blood pressure. A total of 590 female students in the last class of the local senior high schools was studied. Seventy-seven (13%) of the students were smokers. Interestingly, in this cohort of young female students clustering of the smoking habit with dyslipidemia and alcohol use was observed. However, smoking was associated with signif icantly lower levels of blood pressure, as well as with lower mean body weight and body mass index. In conclusion, a considerable though apparently decreasing number of Greek female students are smokers. The smoking habit is strongly associated with dyslipidemia and alcohol consumption in this population.