Abstract
Paramedical personnel are exposed to tobacco smoking. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) may be considered as a lower-risk substitute for cigarettes. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of e-cigarette use, the motives for use and the perceptions among French military nurses. A cross-sectional survey, using self-administered questionnaires, was conducted in 2013 among 300 students and instructors of the French school of military paramedical personnel. Prevalences of e-cigarette use among smokers and nonsmokers were compared using logistic regressions adjusted on age and gender. The prevalence of smoking was 40% among the 200 responders. E-cigarette current use prevalence was 25% (6% daily users), without significant difference according to gender and age. Tobacco smokers reported significantly more e-cigarette current use (51% vs7%). Motives for e-cigarette use reported by smokers were curiosity (48%), intention to reduce tobacco consumption (43%) or to quit smoking (8%). Among users of both tobacco and e-cigarettes, 48% reported a significant decrease in tobacco consumption following e-cigarette initiation (average decrease of 5-10 cigarettes smoked per day; p <0.001). Both tobacco smokers and nonsmokers (88%) estimated that e-cigarette use was potentially harmful for health, but it was perceived as less harmful than tobacco by 46%. E-cigarette use among military nurses follows the trends observed in the general population in terms of prevalence and motives. E-cigarettes, which are seen as an attractive alternative to cigarettes, may contribute to a reduction in tobacco use among healthcare workers.
Highlights
Smoking by healthcare professionals poses a barrier to interventions with patients
Nurses aged 24 years or younger used e-cigarettes 2.2 times more often than older nurses (p
Motives for e-cigarette use reported by smokers were curiosity (48%) and the intention to reduce tobacco consumption (43%) or to quit smoking (8%)
Summary
Smoking by healthcare professionals poses a barrier to interventions with patients. more than 94% of United States healthcare professionals are never-smokers, paramedical personnel are more exposed with a 13% smoking prevalence [1]. A study conducted in 2008 in a French hospital showed that 29% of the staff smoked, a rate close to the 30% found in the general population [4,5]. Another survey conducted in 2009 even showed a 13% smoking prevalence among French certified physicians involved in infertility treatment, despite a certain awareness of the deleterious effects of tobacco [6]. E-cigarettes may contribute to prevention of relapse in former smokers and to smoking cessation in current smokers [12,13] This potential in tobacco harm reduction implied that e-cigarettes became increasingly popular: sales of e-cigarettes have increased since 2007 in the US and may contribute to the recent decrease in cigarette sales [12]. A French population-based survey observed a 18% e-cigarette lifetime use in 2013, which is 2.5 times greater than in
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