• Arlene de Maria Perez and Isabela Martins Benseñor.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2015 May 1; 133 (3): 235244235-44.

Context And ObjectiveThe lifestyle of military personnel has been little studied in Brazil. This study evaluated the frequencies of tobacco and alcohol use, sexual behavior and mental health among military students.Design And SettingCross-sectional study at the Police Academy, in São Paulo.MethodsStudents answered a questionnaire about tobacco use, alcohol consumption, sexual behavior and common mental disorders (CMDs). To analyze associations among the frequencies of smoking and alcohol use, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and CMDs during the undergraduate years, we built a multinomial logistic regression model adjusted for age and sex.ResultsAll 473 students were invited to participate and 430 (90.9%) agreed (10.5% were women). Most were white (76.6%), aged < 30 years, from the upper middle class (78.1%). The frequency of smoking was 6.5%, alcohol consumption 69.3%, STDs 14% and CMDs 15.6%. The use of condoms was low. Fourth-year students presented a lower odds ratio (OR) for STDs than the first-year students: 0.44 (95% confidence interval: 0.22-0.90). Third-year students presented a lower OR for CMDs than the first-year students.ConclusionThe frequencies of smoking and CMDs were low, while the frequency of alcohol consumption was similar to that of the Brazilian population. The use of condoms was low, in comparison with previous studies with similar samples. The results suggest that there was a certain degree of protection against CMDs and STDs during the undergraduate years.

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