[Attitudes of Brazilian pulmonologists toward nicotine dependence: a national survey]
Carlos Alberto de Assis Viegas1, Antonio Gabriel Teles Valentim, Jaene Andrade Pacheco Amoras
1Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brasil. viegasc@uol.com.br
Abstract:
Smoking is a medical condition, since there is drug dependence, and health professionals should treat it as a chronic disease. In order to understand the attitudes of Brazilian pulmonologists toward smokers, we conducted a national survey, using a questionnaire posted on the Internet, of 2,800 pulmonologists, 587 (21%) of whom completed and returned the questionnaires. We found that 3.2% of the respondents did not believe that smoking is a medical condition. Only 14.7% treated smokers, and 32.4% stated that they would refer smokers to another professional for treatment. These results suggest that Brazilian pulmonologists have insufficient knowledge of smoking cessation therapies.
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