Are Smoking Habits Changing among Spanish Health Professionals? Results from the SUN Cohort 1999–2008

Abstract

Introduction:Smoking by health professionals is a very negative habit not only for their own health, but also because it diminishes their capacity to influence their smoker patients to quit their habits. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the trend of the smoking prevalence, as well as the impact of the 2005 Spanish Smoking Act, among healthcare professionals. Methods: Participants were asked about their smoking consumption in the baseline and the follow-up questionnaires in a Spanish dynamic prospective cohort of university graduates (the SUN Project) from 1999 to 2008. Non-conditional logistic regression models were fit to assess the relationship between type of profession and prevalence of smoking. Results: The proportion of current smokers at the entrance into the cohort was 16.4% for physicians, 20.8% for pharmacists, 23.4% for nurses and 24% for other university graduates. All professional groups presented a statistically significant decline of smoking prevalence from 1999 to 2008. This decline might be at least partly due to the impact of the Spanish legislation on their smoking habits. Conclusion: This study shows a decline in smoking prevalence among Spanish physicians. This decline has reached lower levels than what is current among other professionals and the general population. However, there is still a high number of smokers among health professionals, thus more efforts are needed to achieve lower levels of tobacco consumption.

Smoking Prevalence, Attitudes and Behavior among Dental Students in Poland and Italy

“…The objectives and methodology of the study were explained to the students before the survey started. The study was conducted in accordance with the protocol developed by WHO Europe and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [ 12 ], in line with the Declaration of Helsinki and after the acceptance of the Ethics Committee of the Sapienza University, Italy and the Medical University of Bialystok (MUB), Poland.…”

“…The FDI (World Dental Federation) included in its guidelines the competencies for graduating dentists on how they need to identify and treat smoking habits [ 11 ]. So far, the vast majority of European and US/Canadian dental schools have included anti-smoking advice in their curriculum and expect students to provide some kind of tobacco counselling to patients [ 12 , 13 ]. Being the future generation of oral health providers, dental students’ knowledge, attitude and behavior towards smoking could be of major importance in tobacco control performance.…”

Tobacco use among medical students in Europe: Results of a multicentre study using the Global Health Professions Student Survey

“…5 Paradoxically, health professionals, while recognizing smoking as the leading preventable cause of death and disability, are not aware of their fundamental role to help people quit smoking, 6,7 and in some countries, the prevalence of smoking is higher among health professionals than the general population. 8,9 It is well recognized that helping patients to stop smoking is cost-effective. Unfortunately, research shows that only one in five patients receive advice and assistance to quit smoking, and a very low percentage receive pharmacotherapy.…”

Smoking prevalence and associated risk factors among healthcare professionals in Nicosia general hospital, Cyprus: a cross-sectional study

“…Smoking rates have also declined among nurses during the last decades, this decline however, was of a smaller magnitude compared to doctors whereas, in some countries the percentage of nurses who smoke is still very high [ 8 ]. Findings from Spanish and Italian studies reported high smoking prevalence among nurses (28 % [ 23 ] and 41 % [ 20 , 24 ] respectively), while according to a survey in Britain, in 2011, nurses were more likely to be current smokers (8.7 %) than doctors (7 %) [ 22 ].…”