Özet:

This study was carried out on 401 physicians who work in the Lakes region, Turkey, to assess their behaviour and attitude towards smoking. A questionnaire based on guidelines and standardised questions prepared by the World Health Organization was given to physicians. Of the physicians, 136 (33.9%) had never tried to smoke in their lives and 45 (11.2%) were former smokers. Of the 220 (54.9%) physicians who had smoked for at least 6 months in their lifetime, 46 (11.5%) were ex-smokers. Of the current smokers, 135 (77.6%) were daily smokers and 39 (22.4%) were occasional smokers. Fifty-two (43.7%) general practitioners, 34 (28.3%) research assistants, and 49 (30.2%) specialist physicians were current daily smokers. The daily smoking rate was 31.0% in the physicians of surgical medicine, 29.2% in the physicians of internal medicine and 25.0% in the physicians of basic medicine. Of the current smokers, 124 (71.3%) considered giving up smoking and 98 (56.3%) had tried to give up smoking. The mean age for trying the first cigarette was 19.4 years and the major reason was peer influence. Of the current smokers, 164 (94.3%) considered smoking harmful to health, 148 (85.1%) worried that smoking was harmful to their health, whereas 19 (10.9%) did not worry about it at all. Concerning the diseases related to smoking, the knowledge level of the physicians was similar among different groups of physicians. Of all the physicians, 218 (54.4%) thought that their current knowledge was enough to persuade patients to stop smoking and 190 (47.4%) would always or frequently asked questions about the smoking habits of their patients. One hundred and sixty-seven (41.6%) did not believe that an increase in tobacco prices would have an impact on the prevalence of smoking. In conclusion, it is possible to say that if physicians themselves were not smokers and models, they could have more influence on patients' smoking cessation.

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