Screening of alcohol and tobacco addiction in Pamukkale University students

Purpose:previous studies showed high percentage of alcohol and tobacco use in university students. but ratio of problematic tobacco and alcohol users weren’t handled sufficiently in many studies. clinical trials revealed that using valid and reliable screening tests were better for estimating the problematic alcohol and tobacco users. the aim of study is to investigate the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use and determine the ratio of problem drinkers and smokers in university students.materials and methods:the sample of the study consisted of 371 university students (181 boys and 190 girls) of pamukkale university. cage (cut down, annoyed, guilty, eye opener) and fagerstrom tolerance test for nicotine dependency was used to detect problematic alcohol and tobacco users.results:132 (35.6%) students were using tobacco and 131 (35.3%) were using alcohol. 48 (36.4%) smokers had 5 or more points from fagerstrom test, 34 (26.2%) alcohol users had score of 2 or more from cage questionnaire and 12 students had 5 or more points from fagerstrom test and 2 or more points from cage.conclusion: despite all efforts on reducing alcohol and tobacco use, it was still an important issue in university students. 1/3 of smokers and 1/4 of alcohol users were in risk for problematic tobacco and alcohol use. increasing the preventive and therapeutic actions for university students might be helpful for decreasing the development of dependency in this group.