The Effect of Gender Difference on the Smoking Cessation

Abstract

Purpose: Although tobacco use is generally perceived as a male gender behavior, the use of tobacco products among women is gradually increasing, especially in developing countries. This study was conducted to investigate the role of gender in smoking cessation. Materials and Methods: The data used in this study were obtained from a survey conducted among patients registered at the smoking cessation outpatient clinic between January 2019 and January 2020. The survey was conducted with those who agreed to participate in the study. All the collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 17.0. The significance level was accepted as p<.05. Results: 322 admissions were registered at the clinic within a year (median age 40 years). 54% (n=174) of the total 322 admissions participated in the study, and 64% (n=206) of the cases were male. The smoking rate in the families of women was significantly higher than that of men (p<0.001). When the polyclinic attendance rate of the participants was questioned, the male patients' attendance rate was higher than that of the female patients, and the rate of quitting smoking was also significantly higher for men. Conclusion: The number of male patients who presented the intention to quit smoking was higher than the number of women. Men had statistically higher clinic continuity and smoking cessation rates. These results show that women do not have sufficient knowledge about the fight against tobacco; therefore, information on smoking cessation should be made widely available to women.

Keywords

• gender
• smoking
• smoking cessation clinic