Smoking habits in young federated athletes

Tobacco is the major cause of sickness and preventable death, leading to the death of six million people annually worldwide. In Portugal, the prevalence of daily consumption of tobacco in individuals aged between 15 and 24 years old is 15.1%. Sports practice usually involves health benefits, associated with the establishment of rules and guidelines that promote good health behavior, such as smoking avoidance. In order to study the smoking habits of a population of young federated athletes in Portugal, to assess their knowledge about the effects of smoking on health and investigate the sources they use to get information about this topic, we conducted a cross-sectional study aimed to federated athletes in Portugal, aged between 16 and 24 years old. The rate of smokers was 17.6%. In what concerns the average number of cigarettes, 84.8% of smokers said they smoke 10 cigarettes per day and 64.6% consume on average 20 or fewer cigarettes per weekend. 73.4% of athletes believe that smoking affects their sports performance. Regarding the source of knowledge of the harm of tobacco, the Media and prevention campaigns are those that most affect athletes, with a response rate of 78.6% ans 89.7%, respectively. The high prevalence of federated athletes who smoke in the age group studied deserves special attention, since they serve as an example in society in general but do not seem to work as an example for themselves. It is very important the commitment and investment in smoking prevention in this particular group of the population, taking into account the age group and sports practice. We believe that specific education and smoking prevention strategies targeted to these specific population may result in a reduction of tobacco consumption.