OBJECTIVESThe purpose of the study was to investigate the smoking habits of medical and other students and to explore the most important factors associated with students' smoking.

METHODSUniversity students were surveyed in late spring 2006 regarding their smoking status and additional health- and behavior-related characteristics.

RESULTSA total of 1205 (269 medical and 936 nonmedical) students participated in the study. Of these 47% reported being current smokers (35% among medical students), and 30% of the smokers had already started smoking at the age of 16 years. Smokers reported a significantly higher prevalence of cough and respiratory infections and a decrease in physical fitness. The most important factor associated with smoking prevalence was friendship with smokers and maternal smoking. A better knowledge of harmful effects showed a strong association with nonsmokers. Although nonmedical students exhibited a greater possibility to be a smoker, awareness of harmful effects among medical students was not as significant as factor against smoking compared with among nonmedical students.

CONCLUSIONSThis study shows that smoking prevalence among medical and other students in Greece is extremely high. A lack of effective education against smoking in medical students was evident and this underlines the need to identify the factors to be included in planning effective antismoking programs.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected every country on earth, and family physicians (FPs) have helped patients at every stage. The first objective of our study was to study the FPs' knowledge about COVID-19 and second objective was to assess their attitudes, stress and death anxiety surrounding the current pandemic. Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire was prepared to collect responses from FPs between March-April 2020. A descriptive and correlational design was utilized. Results: 240 FPs from eight countries were evaluated. The majority reported that they received most information from medical journals (77%). Most of the respondents also noted that the most common symptoms were acute respiratory syndrome and fever - with the most effective treatment in most cases consisting of symptomatic treatment (41%). Although FPs generally had a positive attitude, most of them (68%) were concerned about contacting COVID-19 from patients and as a result, they experienced increased stress (64%). Conclusion The research was conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak while the FPs were working on the frontline of the pandemic. This research revealed that most of the FPs had good knowledge of, and a positive attitude towards COVID-19 treatment. It was observed that participants who tended towards conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, and who had higher life satisfaction, and lower levels of death anxiety also reported more positive attitudes towards COVID-19. While the main target population of COVID-19 disease were the older age groups, FPs' attitudes and fear levels were not associated with age, gender, or years of experience.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected every country on earth, and family physicians (FPs) have helped patients at every stage. The first objective of our study was to study the FPs' knowledge about COVID-19 and second objective was to assess their attitudes, stress and death anxiety surrounding the current pandemic. Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire was prepared to collect responses from FPs between March-April 2020. A descriptive and correlational design was utilized. Results: 240 FPs from eight countries were evaluated. The majority reported that they received most information from medical journals (77%). Most of the respondents also noted that the most common symptoms were acute respiratory syndrome and fever - with the most effective treatment in most cases consisting of symptomatic treatment (41%). Although FPs generally had a positive attitude, most of them (68%) were concerned about contacting COVID-19 from patients and as a result, they experienced increased stress (64%). Conclusion The research was conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak while the FPs were working on the frontline of the pandemic. This research revealed that most of the FPs had good knowledge of, and a positive attitude towards COVID-19 treatment. It was observed that participants who tended towards conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, and who had higher life satisfaction, and lower levels of death anxiety also reported more positive attitudes towards COVID-19. While the main target population of COVID-19 disease were the older age groups, FPs' attitudes and fear levels were not associated with age, gender, or years of experience.