Smoking cessation counseling: training and practice among women pediatricians.

We examined characteristics associated with smoking cessation counseling among a national sample of 579 women pediatricians. Fifty-two percent of women pediatricians had received at least some training in cessation counseling and 41% counseled smoking patients at least once per year. Prevalence of counseling increased by amount of training; 20.7% of those with no training counseled at least once per year versus 62.0% of those with extensive training. Pediatricians 50-70 years of age were 1.8 times as likely as those 30-39 years of age to perform frequent counseling (p<0.01). Programs to promote smoking cessation training and counseling among pediatricians are needed.