high-risk behaviors in medical students: a cross-sectional study from tehran, iran

Background: policy-makers in the ministry of health care and medical education need to have knowledge concerning high-risk behaviors among medical students in order to have positive changes in the educational system of universities of medical sciences. objectives: to enquire into the prevalence of high risk behaviors among medical students. methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students in one of the largest medical universities in tehran, iran. a total of 275 medical students participated in the study. they filled out a self-developed questionnaire that covered both demographic characteristics and items on eight main risk domains including safety, violence, depressed mood, physical activity, nutrition, smoking, alcohol consumption, and substance abuse. results: a total of 275 students (55.3% male, mean age: 23.7 ± 4.3 years) took part in the study. approximately, 38% of the subjects reported less than 30 minutes of low intensity physical activity during the preceding week. obesity and overweight were seen in 24.4% of the participants. around 8% of the students had body mass index (bmi) values below 18 kg/m². daily smoking during the past month was reported by 10.5%. a total of 29 students (10.2%) mentioned drinking alcohol during the past month. sense of depression and hopelessness were reported by 26.6% of students. a total of 5.5% had seriously considered committing suicide, with 3.6% who had actually attempted, with some doing it more than once. conclusions: in this study, physical inactivity, obesity/overweight, and depressed mood were more frequent. smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse were more prevalent among male students.