Abstract

CATALINA ROMERO, Carlos et al. Prevalence of tobacco consumption among working population after the Law 42/2010, Spain. Rev. Esp. Salud Publica [online]. 2012, vol.86, n.2, pp. 177-188. ISSN 1135-5727.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1135-57272012000200006.

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact on tobacco consumption among working population of the Law 42/2010, which amends smoking regulations in Spain. Methods: Data were obtained from 413,473 Occupational Health check-ups, conducted between July of 2009 and June of 2011, in the Society for Prevention of a Mutual Insurance Company. We analyzed changes in the biannual percentage of smokers and the magnitude of tobacco consumption among smokers in the overall set of medical check-ups, by gender, age, occupational level (manual vs. non-manual workers), and in the specific occupational subgroup of waiters, barmen and similar workers (chi-square test). Results: In the overall set of medical check-ups, the percentage of smokers decreased by 5% (from 40.3% to 35.3%) over the period of study (p <0.001) and the group of smokers with lower daily consumption (< 10 cigarettes) became the most frequent (p <0.001). In the group of waiters, barmen and similar workers the differences in the biannual percentage of smokers did not reach statistical significance (p =0.07). In this group, smokers of < 10 cigarretes/ day also became the most common consumption group (increasing from 40.5% to 48.8%) and the percentage of 21-40 cigarretes/day decreased from 10.6% to 4% (p =0.008). Conclusions: These results suggest that the new regulation has been accompanied by a significant reduction in smoking among Spanish workers and strongly support population-level measures against tobacco consumption.

Keywords : Tobacco; Smoking; Prevalence; Preventive medicine; Smoking cessation; Public health; Health surveillance.