The prevalence of cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use and heated tobacco use among police employees in Poland: a 2020 cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Objectives Uniformed services such as police employees are exposed to acute and chronic stressful events at work that may lead to tobacco use. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use and heated tobacco use among police employees in Poland, and to investigate personal characteristics associated with tobacco or e-cigarette use. Material and Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in June–July 2020 on a randomly selected sample of 8789 police employees from the Mazowieckie Province, Poland. Results Completed questionnaires were obtained from 5082 police employees (79.2% being police officers) with an overall response rate of 57.8%. Smoking ≥100 cigarettes or similar amounts of other tobacco products was declared by 54.6% of the respondents, with significant differences (p < 0.001) between males (56.8%) and females (50.3%). Daily cigarette smoking was declared by 19.5% of the respondents, and 13.4% were occasional cigarette smokers. Daily e-cigarette use was declared by 3.1% of the respondents, and 3.2% were occasional e-cigarette users. Daily heated tobacco use was declared by 2.6% of the respondents, and 2.9% were occasional heated tobacco users. Higher odds of occasional cigarette smoking were observed among men compared to women (OR = 1.254, 95% CI: 1.009–1.558), and among the participants aged 20–29 years (OR = 7.982, 95% CI: 3.066–20.775) or 30–44 years (OR = 3.730, 95% CI: 1.44–9.599) vs. those aged ≥60 years. Higher odds of occasional e-cigarette use were observed among the participants aged 20–29 years (OR = 4.554, 95% CI: 1.213–17.101) vs. those aged 60 years. Police employees with office-based work had lower odds of daily cigarette smoking vs. those with fieldwork (OR = 0.726, 95% CI: 0.55–0.946). Police officers had higher odds of daily heated tobacco use compared to civil workers (OR = 3.362, 95% CI: 1.325–8.534). Conclusions The authors observed a marked proportion of police employees who declared occasional tobacco or e-cigarette use, which may indicate the common social smoking phenomenon in this occupational group. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(5):629–45

Keywords

• tobacco
• smoking
• epidemiology
• police
• e-cigarettes
• heated tobacco use