[Analysis of smoking among women with breast tumours]

Smoking is a very serious problem and it is wide spread among young and middle aged people. It is one of the social factors which act disadvantageous for the health of women. The aim of the study was to asses smoking among women with benign and malignant tumours. There were 280 28-59 year's old women hospitalised in surgical wards in Wielkopolska Oncology Centre in Poznań. In survey questionnaire the women were asked about the count of cigarettes smoked every day. The collected data let to define statistical dependence between the count of smoked cigarettes and place of living, age, education and time between diagnosis and qualification for operation. Results showed that the count of daily smoked cigarettes significant grows in 28-38 years old women that were waiting for the operation no longer than 3 weeks. Similar results were found in analysis of dependence between education and place of living and presumptive diagnosis and kind of operation. Women with benign tumours (no radical operation) and high and middle education, living in big cities smoked significantly more cigarettes then women with basic or professional education living in small cities and villages. Maybe it is connected with their anxiety of result of operation and mistrust of presumptive diagnosis. Comparable results were found in young women with diagnosed malignant tumours who were prepared to radical mastectomy.