[Smoking behavior of primary-care clinic patients]

Smoking habits in 1027 patients over the age of 18 in our 2 primary care clinics were surveyed by means of questionnaires which were filled out by 92% of the total population surveyed. 31% of the men and 20% of the women smoked, while 22.9% and 9.5%, respectively, were ex-smokers. The proportion of smokers decreased with increasing age. There was a greater proportion of smokers and of heavy smokers in the Tel Mond clinic in which the patients were of Afro-Asian origin and of lower socio-economic status. In the Herut clinic, in which the patients were of European origin and higher socio-economic status, there were fewer smokers and they had started smoking at an older age. 41% of all smokers expressed a desire to stop smoking. 60.7% of those who had stopped smoking had done so because of some illness or symptom. Very few said they had stopped because of medical advice (1.8%) or anti-smoking propaganda in the media (0.6%). Despite the general reduction in smoking since previous studies, there is need for much more intervention by family physicians.