[Physicians who smoke. A survey of smoking habits and life style of Norwegian physicians].

Norwegian physicians have changed their smoking habits to a greater degree than the general population. The fact that relatively few physicians now smoke daily makes it especially interesting to study those who continue to smoke. Differences between groups with varying smoking habits have been studied on the basis of data from the Norwegian Physician Survey. The main sample consisted of 1,047 out of 1,476 randomly selected Norwegian physicians (71%) who responded in 1993 to a mailed questionnaire on lifestyle. 8% of the female and 14% of the male physicians characterized themselves as daily smokers, and 9 and 13%, respectively as occasional smokers. The highest fraction of daily smokers is found among surgical specialists (21%) and the lowest among specialists in community medicine. Compared with the non-smokers, the daily smokers drink more coffee and alcohol, use more benzodiazepines, and have a more sedentary life-style.