Breakfast prevalence of medical students is higher than students from nonmedical faculties in Inner Mongolia Medical University.

BACKGROUND: Skipping breakfast is becoming common worldwide. Our previous studies showed that the breakfast prevalence was relatively low. METHODS: In three cross-sectional studies, breakfast prevalence in various populations in Inner Mongolia Medical University campus in 2011, 2013 and 2017 was investigated. Risk of skipping breakfast in 2017 was analyzed. In follow-up study, the incidence, RR, AR% and PAR% of eating and skipping breakfast from 2011 to 2013 were calculated. RESULTS: Data of 18,231 individuals were collected. Breakfast prevalence growth was 16.1% during the seven years. The annulus growth of breakfast prevalence was 9.3% (2013 vs 2011, P < 0.001) and 6.3% (2017 vs 2013, P < 0.001). The breakfast prevalence of three cross-sectional studies (73.0 vs 64.9%, P < 0.001; 79.5 vs 69.6%, P < 0.001; and 82.8 vs 77.4%, P < 0.001) and the breakfast incidence of a two-year follow-up study (70.6 vs 48.5% 95% CI: 1.12-1.90) both showed that breakfast consumption in medical students is higher than that in students from nonmedical faculties. The seven-year average breakfast prevalence of male and female medical students (70.0 and 82.5%) was 1.31 (95% CI: 1.23-1.39) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06-1.11) that of male and female students from nonmedical faculties (53.6 and 75.8%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Medical students have a higher breakfast consumption than nonmedical students. Male students from nonmedical faculties have the lowest breakfast prevalence and the highest breakfast skip risk in our university.