title: Profile of smokers seeking a smoking cessation program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To define the profile of smokers who seek professional assistance through a smoking cessation program and to compare smoker profiles among males, females and elderly people.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-hundred and three smokers were prospectively evaluated. The participants completed questionnaires related to smoking history, history of psychiatric disorders, depression, anxiety and nicotine dependence as well as a general self-report questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this sample, 58.6% of the individuals were female (119). The mean age was 45.3 +/- 12.0 years, with no statistically significant difference between genders (p = 0.391). The majority of the individuals in the sample (84.2%) presented socioeconomic class C or above. Sixty-three percent had at least a high school education. Depression was more often referred to by women, and the difference between genders was borderline significant (p = 0.069). However, when depression was evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory, there was no statistically significant difference between genders and between elderly and nonelderly people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the profile of the smokers who sought assistance, we identified aspects (such as being female and having been diagnosed with depression) that are known predictors of treatment failure. This shows the importance of carrying out a complete pre-evaluation of the profile of a smoker who seeks a smoking cessation program. Thus, procedures can be adopted prior to and during the treatment of the smoker, with the objective of increasing treatment success rates.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Sergio Ricardo
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Maria Stela
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Fernando Sergio Studart
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Leitão Filho
authors.forename: José Roberto
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Jardim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D055815:Young Adult