title: [Cigarette smoking among bank employees].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence of cigarette smoking and its association with other risk factors for chronic diseases among active workers of communication and data processing centers of a Bank.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study in a simple random sample of 647 active workers of the bank. The data were collected in the work environment, through self-administered questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 29.5% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 27.5%-31.5%), 31.1% (95% CI: 26.2%-35.8%) among men and 27.8% (95% CI: 22.6%-32.9%) among women. On average, males started smoking at the age of 17.6 years and women at the age of 19.4. High prevalence of heavy smokers was observed among men and women (53% and 42%, respectively, smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day). Smokers were older, more likely to be divorced, separated and widowed, to have high blood pressure, to drink alcoholic beverages more often, and to exercise less often than to non-smokers. Those who gave up smoking were older, drank more alcoholic beverages, and were more often overweight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The considerable frequency of smoking and other risk factors for chronic diseases among those workers may be an indication of the need for new strategies for health interventions. Opportunities for preventive actions, which are more effective and less costly, may have been lost.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem em Saúde Pública, Escola de Enfermagem Anna Nery, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Griep
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chór
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Camacho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires