Young physician smoking status

Tobacco smoking is a global health problem and physicians should know how harmful is. However in many countries smoking is commonly prevalent among physicians. The aim of our study was to give an overview of smoking behavior among young Tunisian Physician. This was a descriptive study including 302 resident practising in Tunisia and who agreed to participate to our study by taking an online questionnaire submitted on February 2020. Residents mean age was 28 ± 2 years and sex ratio was 0.65. Twenty nine per cent were active smokers, 7% were former smokers and 64% were non-smokers. They were aware of the main role of the physician in smoking cessation counselling in 92% of cases and 57% used systematically minimal smoking cessation advice. The former smokers used to smoke cigarette in 86% of cases. They started at the mean age of 19 ± 3, 71% during medical studies (MS), 65% stopped smoking because of smoking-related symptoms and 9% used nicotine substitute to do it. The occasional smoker started smoking at the age of 21 ± 4 years, 77% during MS and 17% during internship. Smoking consumption increased during nightshifts (46%), parties (57%) and in association with alcohol (40%). Permanent smokers started smoking at the mean age of 19 ± 3, 70% during their MS. They all used cigarettes and six associated cigarettes with waterpipe. Smoking consumption increased during nightshifts (87%), parties and in association with alcohol (77%) and when preparing an exam (74%). Sixty-eight per cent felt smoking-related symptoms and 72% have tried to stop smoking. The Fagertsrom test showed that the nicotine dependence was high in 20%. The smoking cessation motivation was insufficient in 56% of cases. Smoking is common among young Tunisian physician despite their knowledge about its side effects on health and practising smoking cessation counselling remains insufficient. Training on smoking cessation should be ameliorated.