Smoking prevalence of female nurses in the national hospitals of Japan

Abstract

Objective - To estimate the prevalence of smoking and the attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work among female nurses in the national hospitals in Japan. Design - Questionnaires mailed to 14 randomly selected national hospitals and sanitariums in Japan in 1993. Subjects - 2207 female nurses. Main outcome measures - Smoking status and history, and attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work. Results - The prevalence of smoking among female nurses was 18.6%, which was higher than the age-adjusted prevalence of the general female population using this study's subjects as a standardised population. Banning smoking in the hospital in which they worked was supported by 15.0%, whereas 81.6% supported the restriction of smoking. Conclusions - The results showed that smoking is more common among female nurses than among the general female adult population. The survey suggested that nurses favour restriction, but not banning, of smoking.