Basic Behavioural Characteristics of Tobacco Use in Patirnts Who Plan Quitting

Abstract

Aim/Background. Most smokers try to stop smoking without professional support and soon begin to smoke again. In our country, the number of admissions to smoking cessation outpatient clinics are gradually increasing due to the anti-smoking campaigns and increasing smokingrelated diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the basic behavioural characteristics of tobacco use in patients who plan to quitting. Methods.Patients who applied to Outpatient Clinics of Family Medicine Department of Adnan Menderes University Hospital between September 1 st , 2017 and August 31 st , 2018 with the aim of smoking cessation were included in this prospective descriptive study.Data collection was done through the follow-up protocol form of smoking cessation outpatient clinic. Data analysis was done by using SPSS 18.0 program. Besides comparative statistical methods, t test and Mann Whitney-U test were used for quantitative variables, and chisquare test was used for categorical variables. Results.The mean age of 146 patients who were mostly male was 41.8 years. The most common reason for quitting smoking was fear of being ill or the present disease (69.9%). The mean age of starting to smoke was 16.4 years and the smoking-load was 28.6 packs/year. The age of starting smoking was similar in males and females however males had smoked more heavily(smoking load was 212 package/year and 32.9 package year in females and males, respectively, p=0.08).Approximately one third of smokers were nicotine-dependent at very high levels and started to smoke with social impact (59.6%). Stress was the most common factor of desire to smoke (60.3%). Approximately 74% of the cigarette addicts were at the stage of preparing to quit smoking and the most common medical treatment used was nicotine replacement treatment (69.9%). Conclusions.Smokers who want to quit smoking generally start smoking due to social impact at an early age and use cigarettes as a tool of coping with stress and want to quit smoking due to diseases or fear to be ill. It is important to focus on the basic characteristics of the patients' smoking behaviour in smoking cessation process.