Abstract

This study was planned in order to determine the prevalence of cigarette smoking and to examine the social factors related to smoking habits of physician in Afyon. Three-hundred and fifty-eight physicians were evaluated by self administered 24-item questionnaire about smoking. Statistical analyses were done with chi square test and correlation analysis. The mean age was 34.9 ±7.75 years (72% men and 27.9% women). The prevalence of smokers was 45.8% (males 46.5%, females 44%, p>0.05). Smoking habits of the physicians were related to smoking status of siblings, husband or wife and the education of their fathers (p<0.05). It was observed that 61.5% of physicians evaluated the smoking status of their patients regularly but 12.8% of the physicians never evaluated the smoking status of patients. Physicians who did not smoke evaluated the smoking status of the patients more than the ones who smoked (p<0.001). Among physicians who were smoking, 63.9% reported at least one attempt to quit in the past. Thirty percent of the physicians were smoking in the presence of their patients and 21.7% of them were always and 46.7% of them were occasionally smoking in the presence of their children. The rate of smoking among physicians were high, so if an effective struggle and succesfull results are important in preventing smoking, all physicians should attend specific training programmes related to smoking behaviour.