The Difference of Smoking Rates before and after Hospital Admission

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The harmfulness of smoking is well known, but the smoking rate of adult males in Korea is still high. Therefore, we wanted to find out the factors related to smoking cessation among patients who had been admitted to hospital and to make an effective smoking cessation program. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients who had been admitted to the department of internal medicine or orthopedic surgery of an hospital from January 25, 2005 to June 15, 2005. We enrolled 104 male patients who were smokers and gave them telephone interviews. Among them, 74 patients answered (71.2%). RESULTS: Among the subjects, 10 patients quit smoking and 64 smoked continuously. Age, duration and amount of smoking, past experiences of smoking cessation were not significantly different between the two groups. The patients who were admitted to the department of internal medicine (P=0.047) and advised from doctors to quit smoking (P=0.010) showed a high smoking cessation rate. The patients who were advised by doctors showed a higher rate of planning for smoking cessation, even though they were still smoking (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: For smoking cessation in admission patient's, doctor's advice to quit smoking was important.