Addiction in hospital staff. Prevalence survey in 366 workers of the Saint-Eienne University Hospital

Purpose of the study. To investigate the prevalence of use of the following substances: alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, psychotropic and analgesic medicines and illicit drugs in a sample workers of a university hospital. Method. A cross-sectional survey was conducted by anonymous questionnaire among workers visiting the occupational health department. Results. The participation rate for the questionnaire was 98% (366/375). The studied sample included 366 workers, 7% of the hospital staff. Women constituted 84% of the studied sample, which reflected a high female population of the hospital staff. The mean age was 39.7 years (19-61). Auxiliary personnel (39%) and nurses (29%) are the most numerous. No medical physicians were studied. Eighty five percent of the studied workers declared to have consumed some alcohol during the last 12 months. Among these consumers, 1.9% were at risk of dependence. The rate of hospital workers who declared to have smoked some tobacco during the last 12 months was 28.7%. Sixteen workers (4.8%) declare to have consumed of the cannabis during the last 12 months, two presented a risk of dependence. None of the questioned workers declared the consumption of another illicit drug. Finally, 22.6% declared to have consumed some psychotropic medicines and 80.3% some analgesics, during the last 12 months. Conclusion. The prevalence of consumers and of persons at risk of dependence is similar to or lower than those of the general population or than those of other populations at work. Even if we cannot exclude underreporting which could explain this result, we can nevertheless consider that hospital workers are mostly well informed and warned on the risks of such consumptions. (C) 2011. Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.