TY - JOUR
T1 - Tobacco use and impact of tobacco-free policy on university employees in an environment of high tobacco use and production
AU - Veeranki, Sreenivas P.
AU - Mamudu, Hadii M.
AU - He, Yi
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We would like to thank the East Tennessee State University Foundation for providing the startup funds that supported the research, the Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Pubic Heath, and the College of Medicine for providing the logistic support, and the Provost for Health Affairs for forwarding our emails to the university employees. The authors did not receive any external funds to conduct this research study.
PY - 2013/3
Y1 - 2013/3
N2 - Objective: To assess occupational tobacco use and the impact of a tobacco-free policy in the Central Appalachia, an environment characterized by high tobacco use and production. Methods: This study was an Internet-based survey conducted on 2,318 university employees. Descriptive, chi-square, and logistic regression statistics were performed. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with respective 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Results: The survey response rate was 50.8 %; of the respondents, 9.0 % were current smokers. Smoking prevalence among faculty, administrators/professionals, and clerical/support staff was 6.1, 8.1, and 13.1 %, respectively. While those respondents aged 30-39 years showed a significantly increased likelihood of being a current smoker (AOR 5.64, 95 % CI 1.31-9.26), knowledge that secondhand smoke is harmful (AOR 0.22, 95 % CI 0.07-0.70) and support for tobacco-free policy (AOR 0.11, 95 % CI 0.04-0.27) decreased the likelihood. Conclusion: Low tobacco use among faculty and administrators confirmed the relationship between tobacco use and socio-economic status, even in a tobacco-producing environment. Disaggregation of tobacco use data assists the public health community in the efficient allocation of efforts and resources for cessation programs to reduce tobacco use in such environments.
AB - Objective: To assess occupational tobacco use and the impact of a tobacco-free policy in the Central Appalachia, an environment characterized by high tobacco use and production. Methods: This study was an Internet-based survey conducted on 2,318 university employees. Descriptive, chi-square, and logistic regression statistics were performed. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with respective 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Results: The survey response rate was 50.8 %; of the respondents, 9.0 % were current smokers. Smoking prevalence among faculty, administrators/professionals, and clerical/support staff was 6.1, 8.1, and 13.1 %, respectively. While those respondents aged 30-39 years showed a significantly increased likelihood of being a current smoker (AOR 5.64, 95 % CI 1.31-9.26), knowledge that secondhand smoke is harmful (AOR 0.22, 95 % CI 0.07-0.70) and support for tobacco-free policy (AOR 0.11, 95 % CI 0.04-0.27) decreased the likelihood. Conclusion: Low tobacco use among faculty and administrators confirmed the relationship between tobacco use and socio-economic status, even in a tobacco-producing environment. Disaggregation of tobacco use data assists the public health community in the efficient allocation of efforts and resources for cessation programs to reduce tobacco use in such environments.
KW - Socio-economic status
KW - Tobacco use prevalence
KW - Tobacco-free campus policy
KW - Tobacco-producing state
KW - University personnel or employees
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84878498169&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84878498169&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12199-012-0297-3
DO - 10.1007/s12199-012-0297-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 22893255
AN - SCOPUS:84878498169
SN - 1342-078X
VL - 18
SP - 110
EP - 120
JO - Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
JF - Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
IS - 2
ER -