Tobacco smoking among doctors in mainland China: a study from Shandong province and review of the literature

Tobacco Induced Diseases

Lina Wang²  Isabella Zhao¹  Derek R Smith³ 

[1] Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia;Department of Medicine, Longkou Chinese Medicine Hospital, Longkou, Shandong, China;School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, New South Wales, Australia

关键词: Medical;    Tobacco;    Smoking;    Physician;    Doctor;    Chinese;    China;   

Others  :  867042
DOI  :  10.1186/1617-9625-10-14

 received in 2012-04-05, accepted in 2012-09-14,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Tobacco control represents a key area in which doctors can make a significant positive impact on their patients’ lives. Despite this fact, however, doctors in certain regions of China are known to smoke tobacco at rates similar to or even exceeding those seen within the general population.

Objective

This study sought to investigate the smoking habits of doctors at a teaching hospital in Shandong province, as well as providing a brief review of smoking research that has been conducted among doctors elsewhere in China.

Method

An anonymous questionnaire survey was distributed to doctors working at a university teaching hospital in 2008, as part of a larger study of occupational health issues in the healthcare profession.

Results

The overall smoking prevalence rate of doctors in this study was 36.3% with significant differences observed between the genders (males: 46.7% and females: 5.3%). Age and total career length were also correlated with smoking habit, although no significant associations were found with department of employment.

Conclusions

Overall, our study suggests that smoking rates among doctors in Shandong province are higher than those documented in many other countries, a finding which is consistent with previous research conducted in some other Chinese provinces. Addressing this issue from an intrinsic cultural perspective will clearly need to form the cornerstone of tobacco control efforts within the Chinese medical community in future years.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Smith et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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