CHANGES IN SMOKING-BEHAVIOR AND BODY-WEIGHT AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF ANO-SMOKING POLICY IN THE WORKPLACE

There is little information on the long-term consequences for employee s when no-smoking policies are established in the workplace. Our study was designed to assess changes in employee health and smoking behavio r. Of the original 60 subjects, 40 employees (18 smokers, 22 nonsmoker s) completed this study, which was conducted in a major medical instit ution. Nonsmokers were recruited as part of the study to determine whe ther they showed evidence of workplace carbon monoxide associated with passive smoke, potentially inhaled at the work site. Baseline measure ments of smoking frequency, carbon monoxide, and weight were obtained during the month preceding the smoking restrictions and at 6 and 18 mo nths afterward. Smokers made significant reductions in daily smoking d uring the first 6 months but gradually returned to prepolicy levels ov er the following year. Smokers, in particular, showed increases in wei ght. Smokers gained 4.93 lb after 18 months, whereas nonsmokers gained 2.25 lb in the same period. Nonsmoker employees showed no evidence of workplace carbon monoxide exposure associated with passive smoke. We discuss the implications of the findings for no-smoking policies in th e workplace.