[Attitude toward smoking among smoking and non-smoking officials of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil: comparative analysis of smokers and non-smokers]. / Actitud ante el tabaquismo de funcionarios fumadores y no fumadores de la Universidad Federal de São Paulo, Brasil: análisis comparativo de fumadores y no fumadores.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the attitudes toward smoking of employees of the Federal University of Sao Paulo as a step toward implanting a consensualized anti-smoking program for the institution. METHOD: We designed and distributed anonymous, self-completed questionnaires with 51 multiple-choice questions, which were returned by 2,613 (48.6%) employees, professors, medical residents, nurses and students. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-eight (16.8% of the population) of the respondents were smokers and 456 (17.5%) were non-smokers. For 84% smoking started between the ages of 11 and 20 years. Most smokers were between 31 and 40 years of age, and the prevalence of ex-smokers was highest in respondents over the age of 60. Seventy-eight percent of the smokers smoked at work. Both smokers and non-smokers reported some type of discomfort caused by cigarette smoke, mainly smell in clothes and hair (62.7% of smokers versus 59% of non-smokers, NS). The proportion who opted for a totally smoke-free environment was 37.5% among non-smokers and 10% among smokers (p < 0.05). Restrictions on smoking in specific places, on the other hand, met with the approval of 82.8% of smokers and 59% of non-smokers (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We believe that surveys such as this one should be carried out at all institutions, particularly in health care centers, in order to assure that smoking restriction policies are successful and receive the support of most employees, whether they smoke or not. Our data suggest the advisability of creating restricted-smoking zones in the early phase of an institutional anti-smoking campaign designed to lead to a totally smoke-free workplace environment.