Evaluation of school teachers' sociodemographic characteristics and quality of life according to their cigarette smoking status: a cross-sectional study from the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.

Introduction Smoking related health disorders are particularly common after long-term cigarette use and accordingly cumulative side effects of smoking usually do not appear in younger individuals. Therefore, for evaluating the contemporary effects of smoking in healthy individuals quality of life has become a fundamental criterion. In this study our aims are evaluating factors affecting school teachers' smoking status and comparing quality of life them according to their cigarette smoking status. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study, conducted between March 1 and June 30, 2015, included all government school teachers in Hopa. A sociodemographic data form and World Health Organisation Quality of Life-bref (WHOQL-bref) questionnaire were used. Statistical analysis was performed via SPSS 20. To evaluate the reliability of the WHOQOL-bref questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha co-efficiency was calculated for each domain separately. Result Statistical analysis was performed on 327 participants' data. The mean age of the teachers was 34.2 ± 8.73 and 50.2% of them were female. Most of the teachers were never smokers (67.8%) and current smokers' made up 20.1% of the population. Mean Fagerström score of current smokers was 4.1±1.96. Multinominal logistic regression analysis showed that there was a positive association between male gender and current smoking (OR= 2.25; 95% CI: 1.17-4.32; p< 0.05). Perception of quality of life and perception of health status scores were lower in the current smoker group as compared to never smokers (p< 0.05). However, other quality of life domains were not significantly different among smoking groups. Also, none of the quality of life domains differed significantly according to current smokers' nicotine dependence level. Conclusions This study reflected a decrease in current smoking prevalence among school teachers compared to previous years. Also, the perception of quality of life and perception of health status scores were lower in the current smoker group as compared to never smokers.