De ce fumeaza doctorii?

Abstract

Milena Adina Man , Cosmina Bondor, Monica Pop ,Ruxandra Râjnoveanu1, Dana Alexandrescu, Gabriela Rusu
Why do doctors smoke? Milena Adina Man , Cosmina Bondor, Monica Pop ,Ruxandra Râjnoveanu1, Dana Alexandrescu, Gabriela Rusu
UMF Cluj Iuliu Hatieganu, UMF Brasov, Clinica de Pneumologie Leon Daniello Cluj, Romania

Contact: Milena Man, manmilenaadina@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Smoking prevalence is decreasing in developed countries in the last decades. Nevertheless, there is a constant increase of morbidity and mortality of the smoking related diseases (COPD, asthma, respiratory infections, cardiac diseases, cancer). Then why do doctors smoke? Because they experimented in adolescence and college and the addiction developed fast, while information about smoking risks arrived too late. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed to 100 doctors and 400 students between March-April 2009; 50% were returned from the doctors and 90.5% from the students. We analyzed comparative the smoking status (60% non-smoking doctors and 56.9% non-smoking students. Mean age was 25.05 for doctors and 24.2 for smoking students. Mean starting age was 17.13 years, 17.78 respectively. They were asked about major components of cigarettes, main diseases induced by smoking, the effects of nicotine addiction, known laws and projects, the need for introducing in the university curricula of anti-smoking modules. 20% of the doctors and 14.5% of the students had a smoking-related disease. 52% of doctors and 57% of students supported forbidding smoking in public spaces, 13.7% of doctors and 88.9% of students supported the increase of cigarettes price, and only 48% of doctors and 47% of students suggested the need of help for smoking cessation. We noticed there are flaws in knowledge of extra pulmonary diseases in students as well as doctors. Most respondents had lacking, nonsystematic information and 96% of doctors and only 69.6% of students consider useful tabaccology lectures. For stopping epidemic morbidity and mortality due to smoking related diseases, there is need for involving all those working in health programmes. For this, the medicine schools should do better in preparing specialists. We also consider it is time that all medical specialties should consider smoking cessation a priority, while the pneumologists should sustain a systematic and routine activity against smoking.

Key words: questionnaire, smoking cessation, doctors, students

Article