Prevalence of tobacco consumption among working population after the law 42/2010, Spain

• Published in: Revista espanola de salud publica Vol. 86; no. 2; p. 177
• Main Authors: Catalina Romero, Carlos, Sainz Gutiérrez, Juan Carlos, Quevedo Aguado, Luis, Cortés Arcas, María Victoria, Pinto Blázquez, José Antonio, Gelpi Méndez, José Antonio, Calvo Bonacho, Eva, González Quintela, Arturo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Spain 01.03.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Cohort Studies; Female; Health Surveys; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Health; Prevalence; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; Spain - epidemiology; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - prevention & control; Spain
• ISSN: 2173-9110

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. 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). 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). 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.