Sergio Ricardo Santos, Maria Stela Gonçalves,
Fernando Sergio Studart Leitão Filho, José Roberto Jardim
Objective: To define the profile of smokers who seek professional assistance through a smoking cessation program and to compare smoker
profiles among males, females and elderly people. Methods: Two-hundred and three smokers were prospectively evaluated. The participants
completed questionnaires related to smoking history, history of psychiatric disorders, depression, anxiety and nicotine dependence as well as
a general self-report questionnaire. Results: In this sample, 58.6% of the individuals were female (119). The mean age was 45.3 ± 12.0 years,
with no statistically significant difference between genders (p = 0.391). The majority of the individuals in the sample (84.2%) presented
socioeconomic class C or above. Sixty-three percent had at least a high school education. Depression was more often referred to by
women, and the difference between genders was borderline significant (p = 0.069). However, when depression was evaluated using the
Beck Depression Inventory, there was no statistically significant difference between genders and between elderly and nonelderly people.
Conclusions: In the profile of the smokers who sought assistance, we identified aspects (such as being female and having been diagnosed
with depression) that are known predictors of treatment failure. This shows the importance of carrying out a complete pre-evaluation of
the profile of a smoker who seeks a smoking cessation program. Thus, procedures can be adopted prior to and during the treatment of the
smoker, with the objective of increasing treatment success rates.
Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Smoking.