Nicotine dependence and reasons for smoking among institutionalized elderly

Abstract

Objective: Verify the nicotine dependence and the reasons for smoking among the institutionalized elderly smoker. Method: We investigated the correlation between the degree of nicotine dependence and the motivating aspects of smoking addiction in the institutionalized elderly. We studied smokers with 60 years or older admitted to a long-term institution in the Federal District. These individuals answered the questions of the following instruments: Mini-mental examination, Fagerström questionnaire for nicotine tolerance and the changed scale of reasons for smoking. Of the 61 institutionalized elderly, 20 were smokers (32,8%) (4 women and 16 men), aged 60 to 89 years. Results: Of the 61 institutionalized elderly, 20 were smokers (32,8%) (4 women and 16 men), aged 60 to 89 years. Regarding the distribution of nicotine addiction, we noted a predominance of the severe category (80,0%), with 10% in the light and 10% in the moderate category. Among the reasons for smoking, the predominant components were: pleasure (4,4 ± 0,7) and reduction of the tension-relaxation (4,4 ± 0,8). The correlation between nicotine dependence and reasons for smoking was significant for the components habit / automatism (p = 0,0165) and handling (p = 0,0079). Conclusion: In this study, it was observed that most elderly participants were classified as severe nicotine dependent, and the main reasons for smoking are the pleasure in smoking and the reducing of stress-relaxation.