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[Tobacco in Barcelona's metropolitan transportation: observation study]
1Servicio de Promoción de la Salud. Instituto Municipal de Salud Pública del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. mnebot@imsb.bcn.es
Objective:
To describe the extent of no-smoking notices, consumption and sales of tobacco in Barcelona's underground transport installations.
Design:
Descriptive, observation study.
Setting:
Community.
Methods:
A sample of 54 stations was selected at random. The presence of users smoking, staff smoking, notices about tobacco consumption and tobacco sales were evaluated.
Interactions:
Platforms, entrance hall and corridors and/or stairs were observed for at least 5 minutes at each station.
Measurements And Main Results:
Users smoking were recorded in 87% of the observations, and cigarette stubs in 97.5% of observations, whereas company staff were only seen smoking in 5.6%. In 72.2% of the entrances there were tobacco sales-points. The users observed smoking were divided equally between the sexes, although the men were mainly middle-aged adults (64.3%) and the women were mainly young (60.6%). In 64.2% of the observations, some sort of notice was seen.
Conclusions:
Both notices and compliance by staff are high, although users habitually consume tobacco. Tobacco sales-points at stations are very common. The findings justify the adoption of specific measures designed to improve compliance with the regulations.