Bahar Işık, İrem Ateş
New Trends in Medicine Sciences - 2025;6(3):59-65
This study aimed to contribute to the current literature by focusing on admitting to emergency department patients' habits related to cigarette consumption and general approaches of smoking cessation in 2024's conditions and to test the variables statistically, compare the results with similar studies, and interpret the changes over time. This study included 1996 patients who presented to the emergency department in Binali Yıldırım University Mengücek Gazi Training and Research Hospital over a period of 3 days. Than a questionnaire was applied them. The respective rate of current and former smokers was 28.2% and 12.02%. Smokers were most likely to quit smoking when they had an illness (51.9%), and this was most frequently seen after >=25 years of smoking (70.1%). Total percentage of individuals who quit smoking using Alo171 (smoking cessation phone line), electronic cigarette (E cigarette), medication, applying on KETEM (Cancer Early Diagnosis Screening and Education Unit), nicotine patch as a method was 3.8%. Among current smokers, 63.8% had never attempted at to quit smoking. Comparing the results of the present study with that of similar studies, the current smoking rate was similar. Although ½ pack/day cigarette use is more prevalent in most studies, one pack/day was the most frequent amount in this study. There was no difference based on the maximum age range of smoking initiation but it peaked twice in this study. The smokers tended to quit smoking after falling ill, whereas similar studies have reported to decide to and suddenly quit smoking was the most common. The rate of cessation attempts was consistent, but the number of participants who considered quitting smoking was lower. The proportionally high tendency to quit smoking after becoming ill and the lower percentage of participants who planned to quit smoking suggested that it might be useful to increase awareness-raising activities and smokers should be encouraged to use helper methods.
