OCCASIONAL SMOKING IN A MINNESOTA WORKING POPULATION

Objectives. This study examined the prevalence of occasional smoking i n a population of working adults, compared the characteristics of occa sional and daily smokers, and prospectively examined the long-term smo king patterns of occasional smokers. Methods. At 32 Minnesota work sit es, 5681 randomly selected workers were surveyed at baseline; 5248 of these were surveyed again 2 years later. A cross-sectional sample of 5 817 workers was also surveyed at follow-up. Results. Occasional smoker s constituted 18.3% of all smokers in the baseline sample and 21.5% of all smokers in the cross-sectional sample surveyed 2 years later. Bas eline occasional smokers were significantly more likely than daily smo kers to have quit at follow-up. Job monotony or repetitiveness was rel ated to an increase to daily smoking at follow-up among baseline occas ional smokers, and a change to a more restrictive workplace smoking po licy was associated with quitting. Conclusions. The results confirm th at a substantial proportion of smokers are low-rate users and suggest that the proportion may be rising. Further research on this group is w arranted.