Occasional smoking in a Minnesota working population.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the prevalence of occasional smoking in a population of working adults, compared the characteristics of occasional and daily smokers, and prospectively examined the long-term smoking patterns of occasional smokers.


METHODS
At 32 Minnesota work sites, 5681 randomly selected workers were surveyed at baseline; 5248 of these were surveyed again 2 years later. A cross-sectional sample of 5817 workers was also surveyed at follow-up.


RESULTS
Occasional smokers constituted 18.3% of all smokers in the baseline sample and 21.5% of all smokers in the cross-sectional sample surveyed 2 years later. Baseline occasional smokers were significantly more likely than daily smokers to have quit at follow-up. Job monotony or repetitiveness was related to an increase to daily smoking at follow-up among baseline occasional smokers, and a change to a more restrictive workplace smoking policy was associated with quitting.


CONCLUSIONS
The results confirm that a substantial proportion of smokers are low-rate users and suggest that the proportion may be rising. Further research on this group is warranted.
Hennrikus
D J
DJ
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454-1015, USA.
Jeffery
R W
RW
Lando
H A
HA
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D016134:Organizational Policy; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation; D012107:Research Design; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D017132:Workplace