RESUMO
Background: Smoking is noxious for health and is considered a public health priority. The prevalence of smoking is increasing, specially in women. Among nurses, its prevalence is 42.7 percent. Aim: To study the prevalence of smoking among Chilean nurses. Material and methods : A cross sectional analysis of the prevalence of smoking among 290 female nurses living in 9th Region of Chile. A nicotine addiction scale was applied to smokers. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 37.9 percent and the percentage of former smokers was 18.3 percent. Twenty percent of the sample was an occasional smoker. The starting age for the habit was between 17 and 20 years (49.4 percent). Twenty seven percent of nurses without children and 42 percent of those with children smoked. Having a couple or not, did not influence the smoking habit. Ninety percent of smokers had a very low addiction to nicotine. Conclusions : The prevalence of smoking obtained in a sample of nurses is similar to that obtained by former studies in other population samples in Chile
