[Risk factors for smoking in persons over 45]

Tobacco smoking has long been one of the most important risk factors contributing to the development of many health problems e.g. cardiovascular diseases respiratory diseases and cancers. Smoking is a modifiable factor, which means that every smoker who quit smoking has a great chance to lower the risk of developing these diseases. The aim of the study was to identify the factors influencing smoking among people over 45 and to estimate the extent of the phenomenon of smoking in 2 Polish provinces: Wielkopolskie and Dolnośląskie. The sample was 867 persons over 45. The number of study subjects was proportional to the sex and age structure of Polish population. The sampling was random and the research tool was a self-made survey questionnaire. In order to identify factors contributing to smoking a logistic regression analysis was applied. Tobacco was smoked by 16.7% of the research subjects (15.1% of women and 19.1% of men). In Wielkopolskie province smokers constituted 19% of the sample (17.7% of women and 22% of men), in Dolnośląskie province 14.1% of the respondents were smokers (12.5% of women and 16.2% of men). Smoking is more prevalent among men aged 55-65 years (OR=4.34; 95% CI: 2.0-9.41). The lowest prevalence of smoking without statistical significance was in rural areas (OR=0.63; 95% CI: 3.6-1.10) and among persons with low educational levels (OR=0.74; 95% Cl: 0.36-1.56). Significantly higher prevalence of smoking was found among the unemployed (OR=2.90; 95% CI: 1.07-7.84) and people performing partly physical work (OR=2.82; 95% Cl: 1.37-5.79). The prevalence of smoking was higher among people being in a relationship (OR=1.63; 95% Cl: 1.0-2.66) and declaring income below PLN 1,000 per month (OR=2.82; 95% CI: 0.81-3.55). Statistically significantly lower risk of smoking was among obese subjects (OR-0.42; 95% CI: 0.24-0.74). It was found that the number of years of smoking significantly correlated with high systolic blood pressure and the number of smoked cigarettes was associated with hinh level of LDL cholesterol. The smokers aged over 45 can be generally characterized as strongly addicted and have been smoking for many years. Anti-tobacco activities targeted at this group should be intensified in order to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked daily. These interventions should take into account group characteristics and its needs.