Quality of life and smoking among industrial workers in Greece.

BACKGROUND

Smoking is a predictor of quality of life, while socio-economic factors influence the prevalence of smoking habits. Occupational medical research has been fairly late in coming to study quality of life aspects in working populations.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study is the assessment of smoking prevalence among blue- and white-collar workers industrial workers in Greece and its impact on health-related quality of life.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study the Euro-Qol 5D questionnaire was been used in a random sample of 472 blue and white-collar heavy industry workers.

RESULTS

57% of the study population were current smokers. The difference in prevalence of smoking across all the examined socio-demographic variables (sex, age, education and occupation) was not statistically significant. Smoking had a significant impact on the health-related quality of life. Smokers recorded significant lower scores (74.9) in the overall Visual Analogue Scale in comparison with non-smokers (79.1), (p = 0.007). Further analysis revealed that age, smoking and education were significant predictors of VAS score. A non-significant contribution was found for occupation and sex. Smokers reported significantly higher rates of problems regarding mobility, self-care and anxiety/depression than non-smokers. Logistic regression analysis showed an independent impact of smoking on mobility, self-care and anxiety/depression level.

CONCLUSIONS

Smoking is a significant hazard and a strong predictor of poor quality of life among the blue- and white-collar workers under study. Anti-smoking policies integrated into a broader context of occupational health and safety at work could reduce smoking rates and thus improve worker's quality of life.