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Gender differences among smokers and quitters in the Working Well Trial
E R Gritz1, B Thompson, K Emmons
1Department of Behavioral Science, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030-4095, USA.
Background:
Gender differences in smoking and smoking cessation among participants in the Working Well Trial are characterized.
Methods:
A prospective randomized matched-pair evaluation was conducted among 90 predominantly blue-collar worksites. Cross-sectional surveys of employees' tobacco use behaviors were conducted at baseline and after a 2.5-year smoking cessation intervention. Respondents included 5,523 females and 12,313 males at baseline and 4,663 females and 10,919 males at follow-up. The main outcome measures included self-reported continuous smoking abstinence rates for 7 days and for 6 months.
Results:
Smoking prevalence was significantly higher for women than for men at baseline, but not at follow-up. Variables believed to influence smoking cessation were compared at baseline. Significant gender differences were found for number of cigarettes smoked/day, number of previous quit attempts, job strain, stage of change, and behavioral processes of change. At follow-up, no gender differences in quit rates were observed; however, women in the intervention condition were more likely to quit than women in the control condition, whereas no differences were seen among men by treatment condition.
Conclusions:
Gender is not a strong predictor of smoking cessation in this population; however, women were more likely to quit with an intervention than without one.