An overview of smoking habits of state hospital staff workers

Abstract

Objective: The attitudes and behaviors of the health workers who are taken as role models by the society are important. In this study, it was aimed to determine the smoking frequency, to investigate the effect of age, sex, education level on smoking habits and to determine the nicotine addiction levels of health workers among our hospital employees.

Methods: In November-December 2017, 326 hospital employees who were working at Kastamonu State Hospital and volunteered to participate in the study were included in the study. A questionnaire consisting of 14 questions was administered by a face-toface interview by an educated staff member to all participants. The questionnaire consisted of questions that questioned participants’ demographic characteristics and smoking status. The questionnaire also included the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test (FNDT), consisting of six questions. Each participant’s FNDT score was evaulated by the investigator.

Results: A total of 326 participants with a mean age of 3 3.82±10,47 years, of which 107 (33.86%) male and 219 (66.14%) female, participated in the study. Of our participants, 111 (30.04%) were current smokers, 215 (65.96%) were never smokers and 17 (5.37%) were former smokers. The mean age of the smokers was 36.5 ± 8.8 years, and the mean age of the non-smokers was 32.5 ± 10.9 years. Smokers were significantly older than those who did not smoke (p <0.001). The mean FNDT score of smokers was 4.04 ± 2.81 (0-10), the mean age at starting smoking was 20.10 (7-35) and the amount of cigarette consumption was 16.69 (1-70) pack years. As the participants’ social status decreased, smoking rate increased, but no statistically significant difference was found between education level and smoking habits.

Conclusion: The rate of smoking among health workers is high. Smoking behavior was higher in males than females, smokers were older, cigarette consumption increased as social status dropped. There was no relationship between education level and smoking habit.