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[Minimal intervention in smoking in Spain].
F Carrión Valero1, I Furest Carrasco, J M Pascual Izuel
1Servicio de Neumología, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valencia.
Archivos De Bronconeumologia
|April 27, 2000
Summary
Physician counseling for smoking cessation is infrequent, with only 42.6% of smokers reporting advice to quit. Older age and male sex were associated with a history of minimal intervention in specialist clinics.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Preventive Medicine
- Tobacco Control
Background:
- Physician counseling is a key strategy for smoking cessation.
- Understanding the prevalence of physician advice to quit smoking is crucial for public health initiatives.
- Minimal intervention strategies aim to briefly advise patients on behavior change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the percentage of smokers counseled by physicians to quit smoking.
- To identify patient characteristics associated with receiving minimal intervention for smoking cessation.
- To assess physician counseling rates among patients attending various specialist clinics.
Main Methods:
- An anonymous survey was administered to 501 outpatients across seven specialist clinics.
- The survey included questions on current smoking status and physician advice to quit.
- Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate associations with minimal intervention history.
Main Results:
- 22.9% of surveyed patients were current smokers.
- Only 42.6% of smokers reported receiving physician advice to quit.
- Older age (rs = -0.246; p = 0.008) and male sex (rs = 0.244; p = 0.009) were associated with a history of minimal intervention.
Conclusions:
- Physician counseling for smoking cessation is infrequent in the studied setting.
- There is an urgent need for Spanish health authorities to implement programs promoting minimal intervention.
- Targeted interventions may be necessary to improve smoking cessation counseling rates.