Prevalence and intensity of smoking among healthcare workers and their attitude and behavior towards smoking cessation in the western region of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to estimate the magnitude of tobacco smoking among healthcare workers (HCWs) and to assess the need to establish a smoking cessation program. METHODS This is an institute survey that targeted HCWs from the following specialties: physicians, allied healthcare professionals and administrative workers who are affiliated to a tertiary healthcare institution in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). An electronic self-administrated questionnaire was distributed among the study subjects during the day shift from June to September, 2015. The analysis was descriptive, and comparison of the characters of smokers and nonsmokers was done. RESULTS The total number of participating HCWs was 697 with about 62.3% response rate. Males (62.3%), allied health professionals (45.2%), and age group 19-30 years old (44.5%) dominated the sample. The crude prevalence of the current smoking was 18.4%, while 9.8% were past smokers, and 71.9% never smokers. Administrative workers, males and Saudis demonstrated significantly higher prevalence of current smoking (p>0.001). Approximately half of the current smokers had a mild smoking intensity and the subgroups did not show any significant differences for nicotine dependence (p>0.05). The results of the attitude towards smoking cessation showed that 80.3% of the currently smoking HCWs had positive attitudes and there were no statistically significant differences based on the characteristics of the participants (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The smoking prevalence among HCWs included in the study parallels nationally reported values. The results showed a need for the establishment of smoking cessation programs targeting HCWs, which eventually should make Mecca (Makkah) city truly free from smoking.