IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i5p514-d70534.html

Knowledge and Perceptions about Nicotine, Nicotine Replacement Therapies and Electronic Cigarettes among Healthcare Professionals in Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasia Moysidou

    (National School of Public Health, Alexandras Av. 196, Athens 11521, Greece
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Konstantinos E. Farsalinos

    (Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Sygrou 356, Kallithea 17674, Greece
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Vassilis Voudris

    (Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Sygrou 356, Kallithea 17674, Greece)

  • Kyriakoula Merakou

    (National School of Public Health, Alexandras Av. 196, Athens 11521, Greece)

  • Kallirrhoe Kourea

    (National School of Public Health, Alexandras Av. 196, Athens 11521, Greece)

  • Anastasia Barbouni

    (National School of Public Health, Alexandras Av. 196, Athens 11521, Greece)

Abstract

Introduction . The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and perceptions of Greek healthcare professionals about nicotine, nicotine replacement therapies and electronic cigarettes. Methods . An online survey was performed, in which physicians and nurses working in private and public healthcare sectors in Athens-Greece were asked to participate through email invitations. A knowledge score was calculated by scoring the correct answers to specific questions with 1 point. Results . A total of 262 healthcare professionals were included to the analysis. Most had daily contact with smokers in their working environment. About half of them considered that nicotine has an extremely or very important contribution to smoking-related disease. More than 30% considered nicotine replacement therapies equally or more addictive than smoking, 76.7% overestimated their smoking cessation efficacy and only 21.0% would recommend them as long-term smoking substitutes. For electronic cigarettes, 45.0% considered them equally or more addictive than smoking and 24.4% equally or more harmful than tobacco cigarettes. Additionally, 35.5% thought they involve combustion while the majority responded that nicotine in electronic cigarettes is synthetically produced. Only 14.5% knew about the pending European regulation, but 33.2% have recommended them to smokers in the past. Still, more than 40% would not recommend electronic cigarettes to smokers unwilling or unable to quit smoking with currently approved medications. Cardiologists and respiratory physicians, who are responsible for smoking cessation therapy in Greece, were even more reluctant to recommend electronic cigarettes to this subpopulation of smokers compared to all other participants. The knowledge score of the whole study sample was 7.7 (SD: 2.4) out of a maximum score of 16. Higher score was associated with specific physician specialties. Conclusions . Greek healthcare professionals appear to overestimate the adverse effects of nicotine, and many would not recommend any nicotine-containing product as a long-term smoking substitute. Additionally, they have poor knowledge about the function and characteristics of electronic cigarettes.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Moysidou & Konstantinos E. Farsalinos & Vassilis Voudris & Kyriakoula Merakou & Kallirrhoe Kourea & Anastasia Barbouni, 2016. "Knowledge and Perceptions about Nicotine, Nicotine Replacement Therapies and Electronic Cigarettes among Healthcare Professionals in Greece," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-25, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:5:p:514-:d:70534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/514/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/514/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Konstantinos E. Farsalinos & Giorgio Romagna & Dimitris Tsiapras & Stamatis Kyrzopoulos & Alketa Spyrou & Vassilis Voudris, 2013. "Impact of Flavour Variability on Electronic Cigarette Use Experience: An Internet Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Karolien Adriaens & Dinska Van Gucht & Paul Declerck & Frank Baeyens, 2014. "Effectiveness of the Electronic Cigarette: An Eight-Week Flemish Study with Six-Month Follow-up on Smoking Reduction, Craving and Experienced Benefits and Complaints," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-29, October.
    3. World Health Organization, 2007. "The European tobacco control report 2007," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt3231j4vf, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    4. Konstantinos E. Farsalinos & Giorgio Romagna & Dimitris Tsiapras & Stamatis Kyrzopoulos & Vassilis Voudris, 2014. "Characteristics, Perceived Side Effects and Benefits of Electronic Cigarette Use: A Worldwide Survey of More than 19,000 Consumers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Gardner, M.N. & Brandt, A.M., 2006. ""The doctors' choice is America's choice": The physician in US cigarette advertisements, 1930-1953," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(2), pages 222-232.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ratika Sharma & Britta Wigginton & Carla Meurk & Pauline Ford & Coral E. Gartner, 2016. "Motivations and Limitations Associated with Vaping among People with Mental Illness: A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Discussions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Nia A. Luxton & Patti Shih & Muhammad Aziz Rahman, 2018. "Electronic Cigarettes and Smoking Cessation in the Perioperative Period of Cardiothoracic Surgery: Views of Australian Clinicians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.
    3. Pietro Ferrara & Saran Shantikumar & Vítor Cabral Veríssimo & Rafael Ruiz-Montero & Cristina Masuet-Aumatell & Josep Maria Ramon-Torrell & the EuroNet MRPH Working Group on Electronic Cigarettes and T, 2019. "Knowledge about E-Cigarettes and Tobacco Harm Reduction among Public Health Residents in Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-13, June.
    4. Michelle T. Bover Manderski & Michael B. Steinberg & Olivia A. Wackowski & Binu Singh & William J. Young & Cristine D. Delnevo, 2021. "Persistent Misperceptions about Nicotine among US Physicians: Results from a Randomized Survey Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-8, July.
    5. Yitian Feng & Fan Wang & Abu S. Abdullah & Xiaoyan Wang & Jing Wang & Pinpin Zheng, 2019. "Beliefs, Attitudes, and Confidence to Deliver Electronic Cigarette Counseling among 1023 Chinese Physicians in 2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-11, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riccardo Polosa & Pasquale Caponnetto & Fabio Cibella & Jacques Le-Houezec, 2015. "Quit and Smoking Reduction Rates in Vape Shop Consumers: A Prospective 12-Month Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Melinda Pénzes & Márta Bakacs & Zoltán Brys & József Vitrai & Gergely Tóth & Zombor Berezvai & Róbert Urbán, 2021. "Vaping-Related Adverse Events and Perceived Health Improvements: A Cross-Sectional Survey among Daily E-Cigarette Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Ratika Sharma & Britta Wigginton & Carla Meurk & Pauline Ford & Coral E. Gartner, 2016. "Motivations and Limitations Associated with Vaping among People with Mental Illness: A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Discussions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Roberto A. Sussman & Humberto Gómez-Ruiz & Konstantinos Farsalinos, 2025. "Comment on Svarch-Pérez et al. Methods for a Non-Targeted Qualitative Analysis and Quantification of Benzene, Toluene, and Xylenes by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry of E-Liquids and Aerosols in Commercially Available Electronic Cigarettes in Me," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(7), pages 1-4, June.
    5. Dinska Van Gucht & Karolien Adriaens & Frank Baeyens, 2017. "Online Vape Shop Customers Who Use E-Cigarettes Report Abstinence from Smoking and Improved Quality of Life, But a Substantial Minority Still Have Vaping-Related Health Concerns," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-11, July.
    6. Manoj Misra & Robert D. Leverette & Bethany T. Cooper & Melanee B. Bennett & Steven E. Brown, 2014. "Comparative In Vitro Toxicity Profile of Electronic and Tobacco Cigarettes, Smokeless Tobacco and Nicotine Replacement Therapy Products: E-Liquids, Extracts and Collected Aerosols," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-23, October.
    7. Cristina Russo & Fabio Cibella & Enrico Mondati & Pasquale Caponnetto & Evelise Frazzetto & Massimo Caruso & Grazia Caci & Riccardo Polosa, 2018. "Lack of Substantial Post-Cessation Weight Increase in Electronic Cigarettes Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, March.
    8. Elle Wadsworth & Joanne Neale & Ann McNeill & Sara C. Hitchman, 2016. "How and Why Do Smokers Start Using E-Cigarettes? Qualitative Study of Vapers in London, UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-13, June.
    9. Anca Maria Pop & Raluca Coroș & Alexandra Mihaela Stoica & Monica Monea, 2021. "Early Diagnosis of Oral Mucosal Alterations in Smokers and E-Cigarette Users Based on Micronuclei Count: A Cross-Sectional Study among Dental Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Konstantinos E. Farsalinos & Vassilis Voudris & Konstantinos Poulas, 2015. "Are Metals Emitted from Electronic Cigarettes a Reason for Health Concern? A Risk-Assessment Analysis of Currently Available Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, May.
    11. Kanae Bekki & Shigehisa Uchiyama & Kazushi Ohta & Yohei Inaba & Hideki Nakagome & Naoki Kunugita, 2014. "Carbonyl Compounds Generated from Electronic Cigarettes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-9, October.
    12. Zachary R. Dunbar & Gary Giovino & Binnian Wei & Richard J. O’Connor & Maciej L. Goniewicz & Mark J. Travers, 2020. "Use of Electronic Cigarettes in Smoke-Free Spaces by Smokers: Results from the 2014–2015 Population Assessment on Tobacco and Health Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-16, February.
    13. Shérazade Kinouani & Edwige Pereira & Christophe Tzourio, 2017. "Electronic Cigarette Use in Students and Its Relation with Tobacco-Smoking: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the i-Share Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-13, November.
    14. Shannon Gravely & Geoffrey T. Fong & Edward Sutanto & Ruth Loewen & Janine Ouimet & Steve S. Xu & Anne C. K. Quah & Mary E. Thompson & Christian Boudreau & Grace Li & Maciej L. Goniewicz & Itsuro Yosh, 2020. "Perceptions of Harmfulness of Heated Tobacco Products Compared to Combustible Cigarettes among Adult Smokers in Japan: Findings from the 2018 ITC Japan Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-14, April.
    15. Vincent Varlet & Konstantinos Farsalinos & Marc Augsburger & Aurélien Thomas & Jean-François Etter, 2015. "Toxicity Assessment of Refill Liquids for Electronic Cigarettes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Giovanni E. Appolon & Samantha Suess & Alice Xayavong & Nicolas Lopez Galvez & Nathan G. Dodder & Eunha Hoh & Penelope J. E. Quintana & Eyal Oren, 2025. "Assessing Nicotine Exposure in Users and Non-Users of Electronic Cigarettes Through Silicone Wristbands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(3), pages 1-14, March.
    17. Hewson, Victoria & Snowdon, Christopher, 2022. "Vaper trails: New nicotine products and the innovation principle," IEA Discussion Papers 105, Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
    18. Roberta Pacifici & Simona Pichini & Silvia Graziano & Manuela Pellegrini & Giuseppina Massaro & Fabio Beatrice, 2015. "Successful Nicotine Intake in Medical Assisted Use of E-Cigarettes: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-9, July.
    19. Konstantinos E. Farsalinos & Giorgio Romagna & Dimitris Tsiapras & Stamatis Kyrzopoulos & Vassilis Voudris, 2014. "Characteristics, Perceived Side Effects and Benefits of Electronic Cigarette Use: A Worldwide Survey of More than 19,000 Consumers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    20. Daniela Saitta & Azim Chowdhury & Giancarlo Antonio Ferro & Federico Giuseppe Nalis & Riccardo Polosa, 2017. "A Risk Assessment Matrix for Public Health Principles: The Case for E-Cigarettes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:5:p:514-:d:70534. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.