To describe the use and abuse of alcohol, cigarettes and street drugs in nursing degree students of Alfredo Pinto nursing school at federal university of state of Rio de Janeiro.

cross-sectional and descriptive data of first and final year students enrolled in a nursing degree course. One hundred and seventeen students took part in a questionnaire, providing sociodemographic information and completed the alcohol smoking and substance screening test (ASSIST). A double variant and chi-squared analysis and Fisher's exact test was performed.

One hundred and seventeen students participated. Of the first year students 82% (n = 73) were woman; 61% (n = 54); 18–20 years old; 43% (n = 38) were white and 40% (n = 36) had parents that identified as Roman-Catholic. The students in their last year: 89% (n = 25) woman; 54% (n = 15) aged between 21–23 years old; 70% (n = 20) are white and 71% (n = 20) have roman-catholic parents. That is a high prevalence of alcohol use: 84% (n = 75) in the first year and 78% in the last year had used alcohol. 24% (n = 21) had smoked during their first year and 18% (n = 5) during the last year. It was found that the consumption of street drugs during early years of university is correlated to the age (P = 0.033) and the religious orientation by parents (P = 0.047).

Universities responsibility towards their students, and students involvement with their learning process are factors that lead to changes in attitudes, beliefs and knowledge that are so important in maintaining healthy habits and lifestyle in line with what is taught in a nursing degree.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.