BACKGROUND/AIMS

Health professionals play crucial roles in promoting healthy lifestyles to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases worldwide. The aim of the study was to assess the healthy lifestyle behaviors of the first-year medical students in Northern Cyprus and explore the related factors that influence their behaviors.

MATERIAL and METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study using a self-administrated questionnaire to collect information from 345 first-year medical students with a response rate of 88%. A composite healthy lifestyle index was constructed as an outcome measurement of healthy lifestyles based on the eight lifestyle factors, namely, sleeping hours, diet, physical activity, body-mass index, sun protection, using a seatbelt, smoking, and alcohol intake.

RESULTS

Of all, 49.3% of the students were female and the mean age of the participants was 18.9 6 1.28 years. About 59% of the students had unhealthy lifestyles, with high prevalence in all subfactors: smoking (47.5%), inadequate diet (49.4%), physical inactivity (45.8%), insufficient sleep (29.4%), no sunlight protection (77.4%), no seat belt while driving (42%), alcohol intake (38.2%), and abnormal body-mass index (31.2%). The boys were significantly more prone to risky behaviors than girls. Having negative perceptions of own health (OR ¼ 2.2; confidence interval [CI]: 1.26-3.86) and body image (OR ¼ 1.9; CI: 1.22-3.22) were positively associated with having unhealthy lifestyles.

CONCLUSION

Unhealthy behaviors were prevalent among the first-year medical students, and males were at higher risks. These findings highlighted the needs to develop gender-specific healthy lifestyle counseling programs into the first-year medical curriculum, integrated with sexual education and family planning components.

Keywords: Healthy lifestyles, risk factors, medical students, Northern Cyprus