Changes in smoking behavior among healthcare professionals after COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> COVID-19 pandemic has led to a disruption in lifestyle. This impact is greatest among health care professionals (HCP), first line of defense against the pandemic. <b>Aim:</b> to evaluate changes in smoking behavior of different categories of HCP, at Mongi Slim Hospital, (Tunis); two years after the pandemic. <b>Methods:</b> Cross-sectional study by online questionnaire, about smoking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic among HCP of Mongi Slim hospital, distributed between 15/08/2022 and 15/10/2022. <b>Results:</b> Participation rate of was of 18.8%(222 responses among 1180). The sample was predominantly female (Gender ratio F/M= 2.17) and included 30.6% nurses, 18.9% technicians, 16.7% trainees, 12.1% senior physicians, 9% administrative staff and 12.7% other professional categories. The rate of active smoking was 24.8%. Former smokers accounted for 6.3% of cases.Nurses (41.8% vs 26.9%; p=0.038) and&nbsp;trainees (27.3% vs 13.2%; p=0.015) smoked more than other&nbsp; professional categories. Among active smokers (n=55), 36.6% reported an increase of cigarette consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to combat stress (n=12) and because of boredom (n=6). In contrast, 27.2% (n=15) reported that they had decreased their consumption because of a decrease in social time (n=8) and stress (n=2), health problems (n=4) and fear of contracting a serious form of COVID-19 (n=4). Of the former smokers (n=14), 5 reported quitting in the past two years. <b>Conclusion:</b> This study showed a high prevalence of smoking consumption particularly among nurses and trainees and an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking behavior.