Attitudes towards anti-smoking legislation and prevalence of tobacco consumption in Spanish primary healthcare personnel

INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to ascertain how the anti-smoking legislation of 2005/2010 has affected the behavior of primary healthcare center (PHC) personnel (medical and nonmedical) with respect to their attitudes towards tobacco, its consumption and the legislative changes. METHODS: We conducted a multi-center descriptive study of a randomized conglomerate sample of PHC personnel from each Autonomous Community in Spain. The questionnaire covered tobacco consumption, and knowledge/attitudes towards smoking and legislation. The statistical analysis used SPSS software. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 2040 PHC employees (1578 women, 77.4%). Never smokers, ex-smokers, and smokers represented 46.7%, 37.8%, and 15.5% of the sample, respectively. Tobacco prevalence amongst physicians and nurses was 12.3%. Following the introduction of the antismoking legislation, a decrease in consumption was observed. Most of the participants considered that tobacco consumption affected health, was an addictive illness, and passive smoking had an impact on the health of non-smokers. Whilst 91.6% agreed with the current legislation, only 25% felt that it encouraged cessation. CONCLUSIONS: Spanish primary healthcare professionals have a relatively low prevalence of smoking compared to the general population. It is necessary to implement more legislative measures to improve and maintain this outcome.