[Prevalence of smoking among nurses in the Ninth region of Chile].

BACKGROUND

Smoking is noxious for health and is considered a public health priority. The prevalence of smoking is increasing, specially in women. Among nurses, its prevalence is 42.7%.

AIM

To study the prevalence of smoking among Chilean nurses.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A cross sectional analysis of the prevalence of smoking among 290 female nurses living in 9th Region of Chile. A nicotine addiction scale was applied to smokers.

RESULTS

The prevalence of smoking was 37.9% and the percentage of former smokers was 18.3%. Twenty percent of the sample was an occasional smoker. The starting age for the habit was between 17 and 20 years (49.4%). Twenty seven percent of nurses without children and 42% of those with children smoked. Having a couple or not, did not influence the smoking habit. Ninety percent of smokers had a very low addiction to nicotine.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of smoking obtained in a sample of nurses is similar to that obtained by former studies in other population samples in Chile.