The Impact of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking Cessation

Abstract

Objective: In our study, we aimed to reveal the number of applications made to the smoking cessation clinic in our hospital, smoking cessation behavior, and the relationship between this situation and the status of being diagnosed with COVID-19 in the nine months before and after March 11, 2020, when the first case with a diagnosis of COVID-19 was detected in our country. Methods: Individuals over 18 who applied to the Ministry of Health’s Ordu University Training and Research Hospital smoking cessation outpatient clinic within nine months before (Group A) and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Group B) were included in our study. Age, gender, chronic diseases, Fagerström addiction scores, and treatment they received for smoking cessation were noted through the tobacco addiction treatment monitoring system (TÜBATİS), and their smoking status was questioned by reaching them three months after their application to us. In the first year of the pandemic, the patients in Group A were reached again and questioned about whether they had been diagnosed with COVID-19 (PCR positivity). Results: It was determined that there were 320 patients in Group A and 60 patients in Group B, and there was a statistically significant difference in age and smoking cessation behavior between the two groups (p < 0.05). While 20.6% of Group A was 55 years old and over and 8.1% was under 25 years old, these rates were 13.3% and 21.7% in Group B, respectively (p = 0.041). The percentage of those who quit smoking was 48.9% in Group A and 30.9% in Group B (p = 0.029). When the patients in Group A were re-evaluated in the first year of the pandemic, the rate of having COVID-19 was 6.6% in those who quit smoking, 6.3% in those who did not quit, and 31.2% in those who quit and started again (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Health services have had to give up their workforce to fight the epidemic during the pandemic process, and therefore, there has been a decrease in patient admissions in smoking cessation polyclinics. During the restriction periods, there was an increase in the tendency to smoke due to reasons such as social isolation, increased mental and physical slowdown, psychological effects, and economic concerns, and a decrease in the application to health centers due to the risk of transmission, especially in elderly patients with chronic diseases. We think the decrease in our smoking cessation rates and especially in the applications of patients over 55 years old compared to the pre-pandemic period may be due to this reason. Smoking cessation studies should be carried out more decisively, and information should be provided about the combined risks associated with smoking, even in regular outpatient clinic meetings.