SMOKING-HABITS OF WOMEN DOCTORS AND DOCTORS WIVES IN NEW ZEALAND

Women doctors (377) completed a questionnaire on smoking habits in 1972 and 1973. Regular smokers comprised 12.7% compared with 29.2% in a previous survey in 1963. The women doctors who do smoke are heavy smokers, 46% smoking more than 20 cigarettes/day. Among women doctors under 30, 87% have never been smokers compared with 61.5% 10 yr ago. The largest number of nonsmokers is among hospital medical officers, the specialty group with the lowest mean age. Among wives of 2541 doctors, 30% smoke cigarettes and 40% of the smokers smoke more than 20 cigarettes/day. There is a significant correlation between the smoking pattern of the doctor husbands and that of their wives. Among the wives of doctors who smoke cigarettes regularly, 50% are themselves smokers, compared with 18% of the wives of nonsmoking doctors. Doctors'' wives and women doctors who smoke are heavier smokers than other women in the New Zealand community and constitute a high risk group so far as smoking related diseases are concerned.