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The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use became an ingrained habit in the United States (US) following the First World War and a large proportion of physicians, similar to the general population, were smokers. The period from 1949 to 1984 was a pivotal era of change however, as the medical profession, like the socie...

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Autor principal: Smith, Derek R
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18822167
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1617-9625-4-9
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author Smith, Derek R
author_facet Smith, Derek R
author_sort Smith, Derek R
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Tobacco use became an ingrained habit in the United States (US) following the First World War and a large proportion of physicians, similar to the general population, were smokers. The period from 1949 to 1984 was a pivotal era of change however, as the medical profession, like the society it served, became increasingly aware of the dangers that tobacco incurred for health. METHODS: An extensive review targeted all manuscripts published in academic journals between 1949 and 1984 that related to tobacco smoking among US physicians. The study was undertaken in 2007–08 with an internet search of relevant medical databases, after which time the reference lists of manuscripts were also examined to find additional articles. RESULTS: A total of 57 manuscripts met the inclusion criteria. From a research perspective, the methodology and coverage of smoking surveys ranged from detailed national investigations, to local medical association surveys, and journal readership questionnaires. From a historical perspective, it can be seen that by the 1950s many US physicians had begun questioning the safety of tobacco products, and by the 1960s and 1970s, this had resulted in a continuous decline in tobacco use. By the 1980s, few US physicians were still smoking, and many of their younger demographic had probably never smoked at all. CONCLUSION: Although the quality and coverage of historical surveys varied over time, a review of their main results indicates a clear and consistent decline in tobacco use among US physicians between 1949 and 1984. Much can be learned from this pivotal era of public health, where the importance of scientific knowledge, professional leadership and social responsibility helped set positive examples in the fight against tobacco.
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spelling pubmed-25560332008-09-29 The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984 Smith, Derek R Tob Induc Dis Review BACKGROUND: Tobacco use became an ingrained habit in the United States (US) following the First World War and a large proportion of physicians, similar to the general population, were smokers. The period from 1949 to 1984 was a pivotal era of change however, as the medical profession, like the society it served, became increasingly aware of the dangers that tobacco incurred for health. METHODS: An extensive review targeted all manuscripts published in academic journals between 1949 and 1984 that related to tobacco smoking among US physicians. The study was undertaken in 2007–08 with an internet search of relevant medical databases, after which time the reference lists of manuscripts were also examined to find additional articles. RESULTS: A total of 57 manuscripts met the inclusion criteria. From a research perspective, the methodology and coverage of smoking surveys ranged from detailed national investigations, to local medical association surveys, and journal readership questionnaires. From a historical perspective, it can be seen that by the 1950s many US physicians had begun questioning the safety of tobacco products, and by the 1960s and 1970s, this had resulted in a continuous decline in tobacco use. By the 1980s, few US physicians were still smoking, and many of their younger demographic had probably never smoked at all. CONCLUSION: Although the quality and coverage of historical surveys varied over time, a review of their main results indicates a clear and consistent decline in tobacco use among US physicians between 1949 and 1984. Much can be learned from this pivotal era of public health, where the importance of scientific knowledge, professional leadership and social responsibility helped set positive examples in the fight against tobacco. BioMed Central 2008-09-09 /pmc/articles/PMC2556033/ /pubmed/18822167 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1617-9625-4-9 Text en Copyright © 2008 Smith; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Smith, Derek R
The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title_full The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title_fullStr The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title_full_unstemmed The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title_short The historical decline of tobacco smoking among United States physicians: 1949–1984
title_sort historical decline of tobacco smoking among united states physicians: 1949–1984
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18822167
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1617-9625-4-9
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