title: Health care workers smoke as well--who, how much and why?
abstract: In this observational study based on an original questionnaire, we investigated a group of health care workers--smokers employees of a teaching hospital in terms of basic features of tobacco smoking. A total of 137 smokers were asked to answer the questions on voluntary basis and anonymously. Response rate was 70%: a total of 96 participants with valid questionnaires consisted of 93% women, predominantly nurses (71%); mean age 40.5 (range 19-58 years). They started smoking at the age of 20 years on average; 83% started smoking before the age of 23. The mean smoking duration was 19.1 +/- 9.378 years and the average number of the cigarettes smoked per day was 17 +/- 7.90. They smoke 18 +/- 13.55 pack/year; 25% smoke 7.42 pack/year, 25% smoke > 27.5 pack/year. Some 59% had tried and failed to stop smoking while 61% intend to stop smoking (married significantly more intend to quit than singles). The most important reasons for smoking, in a rank order, were: a) habit (35.36%), b) nervousness (12.13%) and c) pleasure (11.11%); boredom and desire were rarely mentioned; only 7 (7.3%) stated addiction. There is an urgent need of continuous medical education on tobacco smoking as an addictive disease, its primary prevention and cure, including professional assistance in smoking cessation.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. dragica.pesut@gmail.com
authors.forename: Dragica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pesut
authors.forename: Branka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milovanovic
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bulajic
authors.forename: Danica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bozic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055771:Serbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires