Abstract:

Objective To investigate the quitting intention of elderly smokers and relevant influencing factors and to provide evidences for exploring key populations of tobacco control and developing personalized tobacco control strategies. Methods The elderly who underwent the community medical examination were selected and multi-stage sampling method was adopted to conduct the questionnaire survey. The quitting intention and relevant influencing factors were analyzed by methods such as descriptive analysis, χ2 test (univariate), and logistic regression analysis (multivariate). Results The quitting intention rate was 12.1%. The univariate analysis showed that the quitting intention was relevant to years of smoking, average daily amount of smoking, average monthly cost of smoking, time of the first cigarette smoking in the morning, previous experience of quitting, recognition of hazardous substances in tobacco, awareness of respiratory diseases caused by smoking, self-rating of health, propaganda and education of tobacco control, and free administration stimulation (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that previous experience of quitting (OR=2.940, 95%CI: 1.098-7.867), awareness of respiratory diseases caused by smoking (OR=4.343, 95%CI: 1.503-12.551), and free medication stimulation (OR=17.658, 95%CI: 6.380-48.877) were influencing factors of the quitting intention. Conclusion Elderly smokers are a special group that the effects of their personal and environmental factors on the quitting intention should be fully considered. Health propaganda and education must be strengthened with effective intervention measures for quitting smoking.

Key words: elderly, smokers, quitting intention, influence factors