Smoking prevalence of female nurses in the national hospitals of Japan.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of smoking and the attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work among female nurses in the national hospitals in Japan. DESIGN Questionnaires mailed to 14 randomly selected national hospitals and sanitariums in Japan in 1993. SUBJECTS 2207 female nurses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Smoking status and history, and attitudes towards the restriction of smoking at work. RESULTS The prevalence of smoking among female nurses was 18.6%, which was higher than the age-adjusted prevalence of the general female population using this study's subjects as a standardised population. Banning smoking in the hospital in which they worked was supported by 15.0%, whereas 81.6% supported the restriction of smoking. CONCLUSIONS The results showed that smoking is more common among female nurses than among the general female adult population. The survey suggested that nurses favour restriction, but not banning, of smoking.