Interfering factors to the abandonment of smoking cigarettes for the participants of the National Program for Tobacco Control

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking is considered a chronic and epidemic disease because the nicotine causes, physical, psychological and behavioral addiction as well as with other drugs. Objective: To verify the interfering factors to the abandonment of smoking cigarettes participants of the National Program for Tobacco Control, assisted by Hospital-Dia Professor Esterina Corsini of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, a central-west region of Brazil. Method: a Cross-sectional study conducted between August 2004 and December 2010, during the evaluation of smokers for admission to the National Program of Tobacco Control attended by Hospital-Dia Professor Esterina Corsini of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul. This is a national program coordinated by the Ministry of Health in Brazil. The study included 370 smokers older than 18 years old who sought the program spontaneously or were referred by health professionals, who agreed to participate. For data collection, a standardized form by the National Cancer Institute was used, administered by a psychologist in the initial interview. Data analysis was performed using the chi-square tests, chi-square trend, Fisher's exact and prevalence ratios with 95% confidence interval. Results: Of the 370 smokers, 49.5% were male, and 50.5% were female, with a mean age of 47.47±11.52 years old. As the education, 44.8% had at least nine years of study and 54.9% with up to eight years of study. The age of onset of smoking was reported between 11 and 16 years old (57%). The stomach problems were the most frequently cited comorbidity (52.2%). Nicotine dependence measured by Fargeström test achieved Average, Low or Very Low score at 44.32%, and High or Very High in 55.68% of cases. Conclusion: It was perceived that the greater the degree of nicotine dependence, the lower the number of smokers who successfully quit smoking.