Cigarette use among Greek athletes
| Autor: | Maria Maridaki, Jerome Talmud, Pavlos Myrianthefs, George Baltopoulos, Sofia Spanoudaki, Panagiotis Baltopoulos |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Community and Home Care
medicine.medical_specialty Basketball biology Epidemiology business.industry Athletes medicine.medical_treatment Cessation Exercise Performance Prevention Smoking Students Sports Disease Cigarette use medicine.disease biology.organism_classification Pulmonary function testing medicine Physical therapy Smoking cessation Risk factor Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine Lung cancer business Demography |
| Zdroj: | Global Heart; Vol 1, No 3 (2005); 229-236 |
| ISSN: | 2211-8179 2211-8160 |
| Popis: | Background Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Exercise improves cardiovascular and pulmonary function and also may play an important role in encouraging people to give up smoking, when appropriate sporting activity is introduced. We investigated smoking habits among Greek students participating in sporting activities. Methods We interviewed 1003 volunteers with a mean age of 17.9 ± 0.2 years. They included 617 (61.5%) men and 386 (38.5%) women, participating in 30 different sporting activities. A specific questionnaire was used. Results Of the 1003 volunteers, 104 (10.4%) were current smokers who started smoking at the age of 17.3 ± 0.2 years and smoked 13.6 ± 0.7 cigarettes per day. Among males 9.1% and among females 12.4% were current smokers. Two-thirds (66.4%) of the smokers preferred Marlboro (45.2%) and Camel (21.2%) brands, respectively. Among males, volleyball, kickboxing, track & field and handball and among females, volleyball, dance, gymnastics, and basketball were associated with higher rates of smoking. Students involved in national and international competitions had significantly lower smoking rates. Conclusions Exercise may be related to a significantly lower prevalence of smoking among students. Smoking cessation programs should encourage sporting activity. Participation at high levels of competition may be significant in preventing the habit of smoking. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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