Physician, heal thyself

Doctors in certain regions of China have been found to smoke tobacco at rates similar to or even exceeding those seen within the general population, according to a 7th Space Interactive story quoting the results of a study.

The study sought in part to investigate through an anonymous questionnaire the smoking habits of doctors at a teaching hospital inShandongprovince.

The overall smoking prevalence of doctors in the study was found to be 36.3 per cent: 46.7 per cent among male doctors and 5.3 per cent among female doctors.

The study concluded that smoking rates among doctors in Shandong province were higher than those among doctors in many other countries, a finding that was consistent with previous research conducted in some other Chinese provinces.