Most University of Mary students do not smoke, according to a survey by respiratory therapy students.

"I thought it would be more," respiratory therapist student Kortney Koch said.

Only 14 percent of the 481 students surveyed in the fall at the University of Mary smoke, and a majority of the students surveyed would support policies restricting smoking in front of entrances. The university has about 2,840 students. The survey was part of their health promotion project for assistant professor Beth Hughes' class.

They presented their findings, along with physician interviews on the health effects of smoking, at the weekly convocation series Thursday.

"We wanted to go from a different approach," respiratory therapy student Meggan Carter said. Most times, stop-smoking lectures present statistics but do not talk with people about why it matters.

Among the experts the students spoke with were a pulmonologist, a surgeon, a dermatologist, an orthodontist, a family physician, an anesthesiologist and a former tobacco user.

The physicians all said in the videotaped interviews that the effects of smoking do not show up right away, but are cumulative. Some effects can be reversed if a person stops smoking, while others cannot.

One disease most commonly associated with smoking is lung cancer, but the most invasive is cardiovascular. Smoking affects the heart and blood vessels.

Men can end up impotent, and it cannot be treated with prescription medication, according to one physician.

Some surgeons will not operate on smokers unless they stop smoking, and healing can take longer because smokers cough more after surgery.

The students who put the presentation together hope it will convince people not to smoke or to stop smoking.

They provided resources to stop smoking, including products, the phone number for the North Dakota Quitline and healthcare resources.

The students will present their slide show again at a booth on Feb. 14 in the Blue Room, outside the University Mart. In January, the students used a mannequin to spread their survey results. They dressed the female mannequin in stylish clothes and held different signs with survey results and tobacco statistics.

The respiratory therapy students began work on the project in the fall and recently completed it. The students who worked on it were Anastacia Corona, Nikki Wold, Darius Seidler, Koch, Carter and Jenna Thurow. They graduate in April.

Some of the students will go on to be respiratory therapists. Others will go on to medical school.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)