Prevalence of smoking among nurses and its association with blood pressure: A cross‐sectional study in 11 cities of China.

Aim: Smoking is harmful to human health. However, the relationship between smoking and blood pressure (BP) has not been consistent. This study aimed to analyse nurses' smoking behaviours and their relationship with BP. Methods: This cross‐sectional study recruited 128 009 nurses in 11 cities in China. They were surveyed with questionnaires including BP measurements. The main contents of the questionnaire included smoking status and other factors that might be associated with hypertension. Multiple linear regression analyses and binary logistic regression analyses were used to analyse the data. Results: The results showed there was a significant difference in the smoking rate among nurses with different characteristics (P < 0.05). For both male and female nurses, smoking was associated with increased diastolic BP and mean arterial pressure, but only with increased systolic BP of male nurses. The prevalence of hypertension among male and female nurses was not related to smoking. Conclusion: Despite a relatively low overall smoking rate, rates among some groups are high. Different cities, hospitals, and departments can combine local data and conditions to formulate targeted tobacco control measures to improve nurses' physical and mental health. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic?: The number of tobacco‐related diseases has been steadily increasing worldwide over the past few decades.A decrease in the smoking rate of medical staff can lead to a decrease in the smoking rate of the general population.The association between smoking and blood pressure remains controversial, and further clarification is required. What this paper adds?: There was a significant difference between the smoking rates of nurses with different characteristics.The smoking rates were relatively high for nurses in emergency departments and operating rooms and those with >10 night shifts per month within the last 6 months.Among nurses, smoking is related to increase in diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure in both men and women but only to increased systolic blood pressure in men; however, there was no association with hypertension risk. The implications of this paper: This study can support nursing managers to take targeted interventions to target smoking populations to reduce their smoking rates.For nurses who smoke due to high pressure, it is suggested that the working hours and cycles should be adjusted appropriately, the proportion of nurses should be increased, and the work intensity should be reduced to alleviate the work pressure.Nurses with high blood pressure should especially be dissuaded from smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]