[Smoking among health professionals of the Mexican Social Security Institute, Morelos]

To assess the prevalence of tobacco smoking by work type among healthcare workers of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Institute of Social Security, IMSS), in Morelos State, Mexico.

A cross-sectional was conducted in 3,133 healthcare workers in the 23 medical units of IMSS Morelos District, from October 1998 to March 2000. Data were collected using a self-applied questionnaire on tobacco smoking for different life-stages, some demographic characteristics, and work type. The prevalence rates of smoking and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated by age groups, gender, and work type.

A total of 3,133 employees participated; 53.4% (95% CI 50.8-56.8) of men and 27.4% (95% CI 25.4-29.3) of women reported having smoked tobacco some time in their lives. The prevalence of current smoking was 28.3% (95% CI 25.6-31.0) and 14.4% (95% CI 12.8-15.9) in men and women, respectively. Among men, physicians have a lower prevalence (20.9%) of current smoking than that of other workers; for example, the prevalence was 26.6% among technicians and 33% among administrative personnel. Women in general had a lower prevalence than men in all categories, and in nurses it was still lower t(12.5%) than that of female physicians (16%).

The prevalence of tobacco smoking in healthcare workers of IMSS Morelos was lower than that of the general population. Nevertheless, it is necessary to keep working on tobacco control programs to encourage smoking cessation among healthcare workers and make them aware of the positive role they may play in promoting programs to stop tobacco smoking and nicotine addiction.