Tabaquismo en pacientes hospitalizados

Abstract

Objective: To asses the knowledge and attitude about smoking habit of in-patients in order to detect the sanitary activities that could help to decrease the prevalence of smoking. Material and methods: Cross-sectional observational study of random sample (n=395) of in-patients of University Hospital Virgen Macarean, Seville, Spain. Participation rate was 89% (n=350) and the interviewer-administered questionnaire was completed with epidemiological and clinical additional data. Results: Sixty per cent of in-patients were smokers or former smokers. There were statistically significant differences in smoking distribution by age, gender, education, socio-economic level and admission diagnosis. Etiologic relationships between tobacco smoking and lung cancer or chronic lung disease were known by more than 90% of inpatients but other smoking's health effects were not so well known: larynx (86%), oesophagus (86%) and oral cavity (81%) cancer, coronary heart disease (82%) and low birthweight (78%). Forty-five per cent of smokers began to smoke before the age of 15 and an additional 40% at 15-19 year. Forty-six per cent of smokers tried to leave this habit without success in spite of receiving medical advice of leaving smoking (61%) and the recommendations of family and friends (60%). Conclusions: Preventive campaigns against tobacco smoking must include pharmacological and psicological treatment for current smokers because an important proportion of them try to leave this habit without success.