[Smoking behavior of family physicians, specialists and students in Rotterdam, 1989]

In a survey of smoking habits and attitudes among general practitioners of the Rotterdam area, consultants at the University Hospital of Rotterdam, medical students and students of the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, it was found that 30 percent of this population smoked. Among the male general practitioners and the male HPM students more smokers were found than in the general male population. Smoking prevalence among female doctors and students is lower than among their male counterparts and also lower than that among the general female population. Amongst doctors the knowledge of smoking cessation methods and the relationship between smoking and diseases was found to be suboptimal. Students of medicine are not inclined to start smoking. This will reinforce the present downward trend in the proportion of physicians who smoke.