Variations in smoking during hospitalization in psychiatric in-patient units and smoking prevalence in patients and health-care staff

Background: Smoking and exposure to smoke are important concerns, especially in psychiatric in-patient services. Aims: Our aims were to study variations in smoking after hospitalization for psychiatric in-patients, and to evaluate smoking-related concerns and prevalence for both patients and health-care staff. Methods: A similar survey was mailed to staff members and proposed individually to all recently admitted patients; participation rates were 39% and 79% respectively. Results: Three days after admission, 4/10 patients had increased and 3/10 had decreased their daily tobacco use. Univariate analysis of variance showed nicotine dependence scores to be associated with variations in consumption (p =.005): whereas 74% of heavy smokers decreased cigarette consumption, 80% of light and 57% of moderate smokers increased their consumption. The prevalence of current smoking was twice as high in patients (72%) as compared to health-care professionals (31%). Patients were also more nicotine dependent (Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) = 3.97/vs. 1.81), and half of the patients were heavy smokers (> 20 cigarettes/day), as opposed to only 6.3% of the staff. Conclusions: Smoking prevalence and daily tobacco consumption are very high in psychiatric patients. After hospitalization, light and moderate smokers increased whereas heavy smokers decreased smoking.