Smokers hospitalized in an urban, public hospital: addiction, stages of change, and self-efficacy.
BACKGROUND
This study characterizes adult smokers on the medicine service of an urban, public hospital, including stage of change, self-efficacy to quit, and nicotine dependence, and explores relationships between perceived and actual smoking-related illness and these three predictive variables.


METHODS
Adult patients (n = 154) admitted to the Medicine service of Denver Health Medical Center in October and November 1996 were surveyed using a written questionnaire.


RESULTS
The proportion of smokers in this population was 45.7% (95% CI = 42.0%, 49.4%). Adjusted for age and sex, the proportion of smokers in this population was significantly greater than in Colorado (28.8% vs 21.8%, P < 0.001). About half (54.2%) were willing to try free nicotine patches during hospitalization. Among smokers with diseases recognized as smoking-related, 30.4% believed their reason for admission was related to smoking, compared to 20.4% among those with no smoking-related diseases (P = 0.18). Patients who believed their hospitalization was due to smoking had greater intentions (P = 0.001) and self-efficacy (P < 0.001) to quit.


CONCLUSIONS
Targeting smokers who perceive that their illness is smoking-related may optimize inpatient smoking interventions.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003120:Colorado; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006760:Hospitalization; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*