Results Taken from a Smoking Cessation Clinic at a Second-Level State Hospital

Abstract

Objective: Tobacco is the most common cause of diseases and death worldwide. Pointing out the economic, social, and other damages of tobacco and tobacco products, which also cause addiction, is important when evaluated in a modern concept, where health is defined as the general well-being of a person in physical, mental, and social terms. This study evaluated the results of patients treated in a smoking cessation clinic at a second-level state hospital. Methods: One hundred twenty-seven patients who applied to a smoking cessation clinic were retrospectively included in this study. It was planned to evaluate the results of treatment at the end of 6 months. The patients were evaluated in terms of smoking habits, sociodemographic specifications, Fagerstrom addiction degrees, and coexisting psychiatric diseases. Patients who quit and did not quit were compared in terms of specifications and treatments. Results: Thirty-nine of the 127 patients (307%) were women and the remaining (69.3%) were men. The average age was found to be 36.1 +/- 11.3 years. The rate of quitting for all patients was found to be 32.3%. Both groups had similarities for age, gender, and age when they started smoking. The longer a patient has been smoking for, lesser is the quitting success rate. There was a statistically significant difference in terms of the quitting success between treatment methods (p<0.05). The most effective method seemed to be behavioral therapy + varenicline use. This was followed by behavioral therapy + bupropion use and behavioral therapy + nicotine gum use. Nicotine patch + behavioral therapy and individual behavioral therapy have been found to have the same success percentage on smoking cessation. Conclusion: We found that pharmacological support therapy with proven efficiency should be given with individual behavioral therapy and support by professional doctors to smokers in a difficult period such as smoking cessation.