Smoking cessation prescribing practice after hospital discharge of pulmonary patients

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess how much pulmonologists in the discharge lists to inpatients prescribe the treatment of smoking cessation. Methods: We evaluated if pulmonologists prescribed smoking cessation treatment. Results: There were 5,924 hospitalized patients in 2005 and only 25% had defined the smoking status. Among them there were 60.1% smokers. In 2011, 30.2% out of the total of 3,909 hospitalized patients had described smoking status. There were 51.6% smokers in that year. Smoking cessation as the treatment measure was prescribed in only 5.6% of smokers in 2005, and in 7.2% in 2011. The lowest number of prescribed treatment measures of smoking cessation was found in the discharge lists of lung cancer patients 2005 – 0.4% and 2011 – 0.7%. Significantly more frequent (p<0.01) smoking cessation was prescribed in asthmatics 2005 – 20.8% and 2011 – 43.5%. It was not the case for COPD patients 2005 – 10.7% and 2011 – 11.9%, and those with other pulmonary diseases 2005 – 6.1% and 2011 – 5.2%. For tuberculosis patients in both 2005 and 2011 there were no prescribed smoking cessation treatment measures. Conclusion: In every third discharge list for asthmatics we can find the prescribed treatment of smoking cessation. This can be explained by the fact that doctors believe that in this patient population smoking cessation shows the effect. There is a significant lack of prescribed treatment measure of smoking cessaiton in patients with lung cancer and those with COPD. More intensive effort is necessary in the doctors' education in regards to their approach to smoking pulmonary patients.