title: [Addiction to nicotine--everlasting problem of Poles--the challenge for family doctors].
abstract: The addiction to nicotine has psychical and physical basis. It is estimated that about 3 million people in the world die every year because of illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. It is said that 9 million of the adult population of Poles is addicted to cigarettes. The aim of this paper was to present the characteristics of chronic smokers in different age groups. 905 subjects were examined in the study. They were divided into three age groups; those who were twenty, forty, and sixty years old. Some additional examinations (including spirometrical one) as well as an interview concerned cigarette smoking and doctor's examination were conducted. The most numerous group among 905 subjects examined in the study was the group of chronic smokers aged from 40 to 59. In all age groups the subjects usually smoke 20 cigarettes a day. The average length of smoking was 32 years. Most people with university degree were in group I. In the group of twenty-year old subjects the majority started smoking in a primary school. More than 3/4 of the examined subjects breathe cigarette smoke both at home and/or at work. We still smoke too many cigarettes a day and for too long at least 30 years. It is because, we are accustomed to smoking and we allow others to smoke both at home and at work. What we can do is to educate starting from the very early age, telling people how harmful it is to breathe smoke and encouraging them to take part in special health programs created by primary care doctors.
authors.affiliation: Zakład Medycyny Rodzinnej Uniwersytetu Medycznego w Lodzi. skalucka@csk.am.lodz.pl
authors.forename: Sylwia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kałucka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*