engleski

Smoke-free policy and trends of smoking habit in health institutions in Koprivnica-Krizevci County, Croatia

INTRODUCTION Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the world. Knowledge of the epidemiology and trend of tobacco use and dependence can be used to guide intervention programs and policy decision. The survey was carried out to investigate trend and differences in smoking habits between health and non-health workers in health institutions to smoke-free policy and intervention. METHOD A cross-sectional, descriptive study was performed in 1998, 2002 and 2006 through survey of smoking habits in all the personnel of health institutions in the Koprivnica-Krizevci County, Croatia. RESULTS Year and half before smoke-free legislation (tobacco-control law in Croatia was put in public in November 1999), 34% of all personnel in health institutes were smokers. Two and six years after, smoking habit was decreased from 31% in 2002 to 27% 2006. Differences were more clear in health workers (33% 1998, 30% 2002, 25% 2006) than non-health workers (39% 1998, 36% 2002, 33% 2006). Moreover, the percentage of doctors who were current smokers (28% in 1998) dropped from 23% in 2002 to 20% in 2006. DISCUSSION Generally, tobacco control in Croatia is efficient. Trend of smoking cigarettes is decreased. Also, smoking habit was decreased more in health workers than in non-health workers, more in doctors than in nurses, so we conclude that higher education level and better knowledge about risk of smoking on health might have a role in that. However, doctors have to lead in tobacco control.

smoking; prevalence; health care personell; legislation; Koprivnica-Krizevci County; Croatia

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