title: Prevalence and factors associated with difficulty and intention to quit smoking in Switzerland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent data indicate a slight decrease in the prevalence of smoking in Switzerland, but little is known regarding the intention and difficulty to quit smoking among current smokers. Hence, we aimed to quantify the difficulty and intention to quit smoking among current smokers in Switzerland.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study including 607 female and 658 male smokers. Difficulty, intention and motivation to quit smoking were assessed by questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  90% of women and 85% of men reported being "very difficult" or "difficult" to quit smoking. Almost three quarters of smokers (73% of women and 71% of men) intended to quit; however, less than 20% of them were in the preparation stage and 40% were in the precontemplation stage. On multivariate analysis, difficulty to quit was lower among men (Odds ratio and 95% [confidence interval]: 0.51 [0.35-0.74]) and increased with nicotine dependence and number of previous quitting attempts (OR=3.14 [1.75-5.63] for 6+ attempts compared to none). Intention to quit decreased with increasing age (OR=0.48 [0.30-0.75] for ≥65 years compared to <45 years) and increased with nicotine dependence, the number of previous quitting attempts (OR=4.35 [2.76-6.83] for 6+ attempts compared to none) and among non-cigarette smokers (OR=0.51 [0.28-0.92]). Motivation to quit was inversely associated with nicotine dependence and positively associated with the number of previous quitting attempts and personal history of lung disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Over two thirds of Swiss smokers want to quit. However, only a small fraction wishes to do so in the short term. Nicotine dependence, previous attempts to quit or previous history of lung disease are independently associated with difficulty and intention to quit.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Bugnon 17, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland. Pedro-Manuel.Marques-Vidal@chuv.ch
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marques-Vidal
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Melich-Cerveira
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paccaud
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waeber
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vollenweider
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cornuz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology