Smoking Habits among Iranian General Practitioners

Background: Smoking is one of the most important public health problems and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. General practitioners (GPs) as a key person play a great role in public health policy and public smoking behaviors. Objectives: This study aimed to identify general practitioners' smoking practices. The main research question was what proportions of physicians are smoking and what their pattern of smoking is. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out using a WHO-based questionnaire. A sample size of 5140 general practitioners selected by stratified random sampling method from a total of 25,600 practitioners all over the country at the time of the study participated in the study. Results: Seventy four percent of the subjects were males. Out of them, 22.3% had a history of smoking at some point of their life; about 4.6 % have ceased it; 8.3% had occasional history of smoking and the remaining 7.6% mentioned a daily smoking pattern, while 77.7% of them have never smoked. At the time of study, 15% were smoking. About 60% of smoking physicians had started smoking from the age of 21-30 years. The mean, the minimum and the maximum number of daily cigarettes were respectively 6.62 +/- 6.15, 1, and 40 cigarettes. After cigarettes, the most common tobacco products used by physicians were respectively pipes (4.7%), Shisha (4.3%), and cigars (3.9%). There were significant relationship between smoking pattern of GPs and some factors such as their age of onset of smoking, gender, knowledge about smoking side effects, and attitude towards smoking (p<0.001). Conclusion and Recommendations: A considerable proportion of Iranian practitioners were currently smoking. There is a need for specific strategies to encourage smoking physicians to quit. These data should help policy makers and other key persons seeking effective programs to reduce tobacco use among GPs in Iran.