Influência do tabagismo na qualidade de vida de idosos da comunidade

Abstract

Smoking is considered a disease and it is the main cause of avoidable deaths worldwide. This habit involves not only the life expectancy, but also the quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to assess socio-demographic and economic factors associated with smoking in the elderly population; characterize the time of exposure to tobacco among smoking elderly, and among former smoking elderly, characterize the number of cigarettes that one used to smoke per day, how long has been exposed to tobacco and how long he/she ceased the habit; characterize items of Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and the degree of nicotine dependence among smoking elderly; compare QoL scores of aged smoker, former smokers and nonsmokers; characterize QoL scores according to the degree of nicotine dependence; associate QoL scores to the degree of nicotine dependence and the time of exposure to smoke in smoking elderly and associate QoL scores over time since smoking cessation in former smoking elders; This is a quantitative study, transversal, observational and analytical, with 980 elderly living in the urban area of the municipality of Uberaba (MG) Brazil. Instruments used: Mini Mental State Examination; Brazilian Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire; World Health Organization Quality of Life Bref; World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment for Older Adults; and FTND. The analysis proceeded by means of descriptive statistics Cramer's V test, Multiple Multinomial Logistic Regression, ANOVA, Spearman's test, Pearson s test and Multiple Linear Regression (p&#8804;0.05). This investigation was approved by the Ethics Committee on Human Research of the Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro (UFTM). The percentage found was 12.4% (122) of aged smokers and 32.7% (320) of former smokers. Smoking Elderly presented 3.57, 2.36 and 1.82 more likely to be male (p<0.001), aged 60-69 years (p=0.004) and have no companion (p=0.008) respectively. Elderly smokers have this habit for 49.48±14.95 years, consume less than 10 cigarettes a day (50.8%), light up their first cigarette between 31 to 60 minutes after waking up (36.1%) and had low degree of nicotine dependence (31.1%). Former smokers have consumed an average of 18.47 cigarettes a day, were exposed to smoke for 27.83 years and stopped smoking 24.00 years ago. Good QoL (48.4%, 52.8% and 56.7%) and satisfaction with health (42.6%, 47.5% and 48.3%) predominated among aged smokers, ex-smokers and nonsmokers, respectively. There was no significant difference between the scores of quality of life for aged smokers, former smokers and non-smokers. The highest scores for QoL varied according to the degree of nicotine dependence. The smoking elderly with high levels of nicotine dependence had worse QoL scores on the facets death and dying (p=0.036), and those with longer exposure to smoke worse QoL in the physical domain (p=0.002). The elderly ex-smokers with short time from cessation of the addiction also had worse QoL scores in the psychological domain (p=0.010). The results show the socio-demographic and economic factors associated with smoking in the elderly population and highlight the worst QoL of elderly people with greater nicotine dependence, longer exposure to smoke and shorter time from smoking cessation.