CURRENT SMOKING PREVALENCE AND LIFESTYLE AMONG JAPANESE HEALTHCARE WORKERS AT A NON-SMOKING UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

AIM: Although the smoking prevalence among healthcare workers (HCWs) has declined year by year, the smoking prevalence in Japanese HCWs remains high compared with that in other developed countries. Previously, several studies have evaluated the smoking status of physicians and nurses; however, smoking status in other HCWs such as clerical staff, laboratory technicians, and pharmacists is less well known. In the present study, smoking status of HCWs, including peripheral staff (private secretary, clerical staff, medical and radiological technicians, and pharmacists), physicians, and nurses, was evaluated in a general hospital. In addition, lifestyle differences between smokers and nonsmokers were examined. METHODS: Kinki University Faculty of Medicine and Hospital has 2480 full-time employees. All the workers participated in the annual health check and were enrolled in this study. Data were obtained through written questionnaires answered from all the subjects who participated in the annual health check. RESULTS: All the subjects responded to the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 179 males (22.8%) and 168 females (9.9%) were smokers. In male subjects, significantly higher smoking rates were recorded for nurses (OR: 2.76, 95%CI: 1.56–4.90) and medical/radiological technicians (OR: 2.28, 95%CI: 1.26–4.10) compared with those for HCWs with different job titles. Furthermore, in female subjects, significantly higher smoking rates were observed for nurses than for HCWs with different job titles (OR: 4.77, 95%CI: 1.49–15.3). In the chi-square test results, significant negative relationships were observed for two lifestyle factors in males: regular physical activity (p-value for chi-square= 0.032) and eating breakfast (p-value for chi-square< 0.001). On the other hand, significant positive relationships were observed for three lifestyle factors in female subjects: evening mealtime (p-value for chi-square < 0.001), eating breakfast (p-value for chi-square < 0.001), and alcohol intake (p-value for chi-square < 0.001). Significantly fewer female smokers reported that they regularly got enough sleep (p-value for chi-square < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Significantly higher smoking rates were recorded for male and female nurses. Unhealthy lifestyles are more commonly observed in young individuals. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the associations between age and healthy lifestyle choices.