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.