Current smoking prevalence among adults working in the health care and social assistance sector: National health interview survey 2004-2011

Background: Restricting smoking in health care facilities creates a healthy environment for both patients and employees. Health-care providers who smoke may not be able to effectively deliver cessation treatment to individuals who smoke. Data on current cigarette smoking among health care and social assistance sector workers are limited. Objective: To examine current smoking practices and all occupational groups with high smoking prevalence among workers in the health care and social assistance sector. Methods: We analyzed the 2004—2011 National Health Interview Survey data for adults (age ≥18 years) who in the week prior to the interview were working in the health care and social assistance sector. Results: Of the estimated (annual average) 17.6 million workers in health care and social assistance sector, 16.7% were current cigarette smokers. Smoking prevalence was higher among adults 18-24 years (18.8%); females (17.5%); those with less than a high school education (24.7%); no health insurance (28.3%); those with income <$5,000 (24.9%); and workers in material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing (29.3%) and nursing, psychiatric, and home health aide (29.1%) occupations. Of current smokers, 64.4% started to smoke <18 years of age, 33.5% smoked greater than the average of 13 cigarettes/day; 77.2% were everyday smokers, and 49.5% had made quit attempts in the previous year. Significantly more current smokers had self-reported fair or poor health (9.4%) compared with non-smokers (5.4%). Conclusion: These findings suggest that specific groups of health care and social assistance workers might particularly benefit from support and incentives to quit smoking.