Prevalence and frequency of drug use by university health courses of a public institution in the country

Abstract

The control of toxic substances is one of two pillars of Lifestyle Medicine. Drug use can begin in adolescence and youth, or even before, and become a vice, with the risk of spreading throughout life. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify the prevalence of drug use by 1st grade academics. year of courses in the health area of ​​a public university in the South of the country. This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee, under the C.A.A.E. 75873123.80000.0104 and apparently no. 6,625,840. 92 students will participate in two courses of Medicine (n=15), Dentistry (n=7), Nursing (n=26), Psychology (n=1), Biomedicine (n=14), Physical Education (n=15) and Pharmacy. (n=14), who will respond to an online questionnaire about the type of drugs, frequently and when they were started or used. It was verified that the most used toxicants were: alcohol (96.7% of the students) and electronic cigarettes (61%). Only 3.3% claim to have never used any drug. Most students (65%) started or used alcohol, cigarettes, and electronic cigarettes not by teaching them anything, and 21% said they started at university. Verified at a frequency of 6.5% daily use, 27.2% weekly and 43.5% monthly. In relation to the use of cocaine, crack, ecstasy, perfume and cocaine, it is verified that 39.2% do not use it, being that 6.5% use it daily, 27.2% weekly and 43.5%. , monthly. When asked about the start of use, 17.4% responded that they started not in the middle and 20.7%, during the faculty. It is concluded that the prevalence and frequency of drug use among university students gives high health, or that it demonstrates a serious lifestyle problem among academics, capable of prejudicing university training, their own health and the population served. Thus, it is necessary to develop strategies for education, prevention and assistance to academics in relation to the use of toxic substances, which are not prejudiciais for a healthy life.