Smoking prevalence of female nurses in the national hospitals of Japan.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of smoking and the attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work among female nurses in the national hospitals in Japan.


METHODS
Questionnaires mailed to 14 randomly selected national hospitals and sanitariums in Japan in 1993.


METHODS
2207 female nurses.


METHODS
Smoking status and history, and attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work.


RESULTS
The prevalence of smoking among female nurses was 18.6%, which was higher than the age-adjusted prevalence of the general female population using this study's subjects as a standardised population. Banning smoking in the hospital in which they worked was supported by 15.0%, whereas 81.6% supported the restriction of smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that smoking is more common among female nurses than among the general female adult population. The survey suggested that nurses favour restriction, but not banning, of smoking.
Ohida
T
T
Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health, Tokyo, Japan. TO-TYP@mhw.go.jp
Osaki
Y
Y
Kobayashi
Y
Y
Sekiyama
M
M
Minowa
M
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires