Smoking and SF-36 health functioning.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between smoking and general health as measured by the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire.


METHODS
Data derived are from three cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Respondents to the postal surveys were middle-aged employees of the City of Helsinki (1799 men and 7171 women, response rate 67%). Smoking status was divided into current heavy and moderate smokers, ex-smokers and never smokers. Health status was measured by the eight SF-36 subscales and the physical and mental component summaries.


RESULTS
On the physical subscales, current smokers reported poorer health than non-smokers on general health and physical functioning in men. On the mental subscales, current smokers had consistently poorer health than non-smokers. However, often only heavy smokers differed from non-smokers. No differences were found between ex-smokers and never smokers on any subscale or the component summaries of the SF-36.


CONCLUSIONS
Differences between smoking categories were found on some physical and all mental subscales of the SF-36. The differences were slightly larger among men. As heavy smokers more often report limitations with daily activities as well as loss of well-being, these impairments potentially provide valuable incentives for non-smoking to be used in health education messages and interventions.
Laaksonen
Mikko
M
Department of Public Health, P.O. Box 41, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. mikko.t.laaksonen@helsinki.fi
Rahkonen
Ossi
O
Martikainen
Pekka
P
Karvonen
Sakari
S
Lahelma
Eero
E
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires