Doctors’ Survey — South Africa
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South Africa 🇿🇦
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Physicians Have Misperceptions About Nicotine
Participants were asked: “To what extent do you agree that nicotine by itself directly causes each of the smoking-related conditions below: Lung cancer, Bladder cancer, Head/neck/gastric cancers, Atherosclerosis, Birth defects, COPD.” The results include responses from “moderately agree” to “completely agree.”
| Nicotine causes lung cancer | 82% |
| Nicotine causes COPD | 81% |
| Nicotine causes birth defects | 62% |
| Nicotine causes atherosclerosis | 57% |
| Nicotine causes head/neck gastric cancers | 51% |
| Nicotine causes bladder cancer | 42% |
Participants were asked: “Which of the following interventions or methods to aid your patients with smoking reduction/cessation do you typically recommend or prescribe to your patients who want to reduce or quit smoking?”
Participants were asked: “Which of the following topics do you typically discuss or take action with your patients who smoke combustible forms of tobacco, regardless of other conditions they may have?”
| Discuss health benefits of quitting to the patient | 80% |
| Discuss health risks related to continued smoking | 78% |
| Recommend cutting down on the amount of smokable tobacco products used | 74% |
| Assess importance of quitting to the patient | 71% |
| Ask how much the patient smokes and for how long | 64% |
| Assess challenges to quitting use of smokable tobacco | 62% |
| Explain the various methods available to help the patient reduce/quit smoking | 56% |
| Record smoking status on the patient chart or record | 55% |
| Assess interest in trying a specific resource/product | 54% |
| Assist the patient to develop a plan to quit | 40% |
| Ask about patient’s current use of tobacco or nicotine-containing products other than combustible tobacco products | 36% |
| Advise the patient to quit rather than gradually reduce | 35% |
| Discuss smoking at every visit | 10% |
