Introduction: Medical studies and practicing the medical professions involve considerable psychological distress. Health risks associated with distress may be greater in people with health problems, especially in the case of insufficient self-care for health.
Aim: Investigating the frequency of positive health behaviours and avoiding risky behaviours among students of medical faculties with and without chronic diseases.
Material and methods: 796 students of the first years of the faculties of general medicine, dentistry and physiotherapy of Warsaw Medical University and the Ukrainian University of Sumy were examined. An anonymous questionnaire was used, with questions concerning: self-assessment and self-care of health; occurence of chronic diseases; 34 positive health behaviours (nutrition, prevention, mental health, safety, physical activity) and avoiding 5 risky behaviours.
Results: Chronic diseases occurred among 23.6% of Polish students and 26.1% of Ukrainians. These students judged their health worse than students without diseases. About 85% of students reported that they take care of their health. Self-care of health among students with and without diseases was similar. High self-assessment of health self-care was not confirmed by the frequency of undertaking the most positive health behaviours; 25% of students smoked, half did not avoid passive smoking, half of Polish and one in five Ukrainian students abused alcohol. The deficiencies of positive health behaviours of students with and without chronic diseases were similar. Among students with chronic diseases, positive health behaviours were more often undertaken by Polish students than Ukrainians.
Conclusions: The lifestyle of the polled students at both universities was far from favourable for health. Students with chronic diseases were in a worse situation, especially at the Ukrainian university. Programs aimed at developing the skills of self-care for health should be implemented during medical studies.
Keywords: health behaviours; chronic diseases; medical students; Poland; Ukraine.