Nicotine use in patients with schizophrenia evaluated by the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire: a descriptive analysis from a Brazilian sample

• Autor(a) principal: Chaves,Leonardo
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Shirakawa,Itiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry (São Paulo. 1999. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462008000400009
• topic: Nicotine; Smoking; Schizophrenia; Statistical analysis; Data display

OBJECTIVE: This is a descriptive study to determine smoking prevalence rates in a convenience sample of patients with schizophrenia and to describe clinical/demographic variables for nicotine use in this population. METHOD: Patients with schizophrenia were consecutively invited to answer a standard clinical/demographic questionnaire and a questionnaire on smoking habits (Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire). RESULTS: Eighty-three patients were interviewed. The smoking rate was 57.8% (n = 48). Male (68.8%) patients smoked more than females did (31.3%; p = 0.081). Compared to patients who smoked at the time of disease onset, those who only started smoking after disease onset had a lower mean age at the time of disease onset [24 years old (SD = ± 6.8) vs.19 years old (SD = ± 3.9; p = 0.041)]. Patients who preferred high-nicotine content cigarettes (p < 0.01) had higher frequency of smoking inhalation (p < 0.05) and had more urgency to smoke the first cigarette in the morning (p < 0.05). Twenty-seven (56.3%) of smoking patients were heavy smokers (FTQ > 8). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with schizophrenia in our convenience sample smoked in a higher rate compared to the general population in Brazil. Smoking patients were heavy smokers evaluated by the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire.