FRIDAY, May 31, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- If you're an older smoker, seeing your doctor and dentist on a regular basis could help you break the nicotine habit.
A study appearing in the June issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences found Canadians who were 65 and older were more likely to quit smoking or remain a nonsmoker if they visited these health-care providers routinely.
Surprisingly, some 12 percent of North Americans 65 and older still inhale on a daily basis, says the Centers for Disease Control and other sources.
You may wonder why you should quit since you've made it this far, but experts say the reasons are as compelling as for someone who is 30 years old.
"There is an advantage at any age," says Dr. Penny Tenzer, vice chairwoman and an associate professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Miami School of Medicine. "Studies have shown that if people over 70 stop smoking, they can add one-and-a-half years to their life."
"There is growing evidence that you can indeed improve quality of life, reduce disability and increase functioning in older adulthood," adds study author Mark Kaplan, an associate professor of community health at Portland State University in Oregon. "Tobacco is one of the single most preventable causes of ill health and disability, and the benefits are apparent even among older persons."
Kaplan and his colleagues looked at an extremely large sample of older adults: 13,363 Canadians 65 and older who had provided information to the Canadian National Population Health Survey.
About 15 percent of the sample was made up of current smokers; 41 percent were former smokers and 44 percent had never smoked. Most of the smokers had not seen a dentist in more than five years. In general, the smokers were much less likely to have a regular physician and to have regular dental checkups than former smokers or nonsmokers.
The study also revealed that individuals who attended church were 50 percent more likely to be smokers; overweight people were half as likely to smoke as people of normal weight; and smokers were 26 percent more likely to be psychologically distressed.
None of this means that one thing causes the other; there's just a strong association, the researchers say.
Regardless, the important message is that physicians and dentists may be squandering a chance to influence their patient's behavior. Other studies have shown that fewer than 50 percent of doctors ask their patients about smoking. Dentists were even less likely to intervene, even though they are more likely to estimate their patients' tobacco use accurately.
It's not that the recommendations aren't out there. Tenzer follows the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHQR) guidelines suggesting physicians bring up the subject of tobacco on every visit.
"The AHQR has shown that the physician still has a very, very large impact on changing patients' behavior," she says. "A physician who spends five to 10 minutes talking about smoking, just bringing it up, will help."
A long-term doctor-patient relationship is even more likely to have an impact on behavior modification, Tenzer adds. Also, patients and doctors need to think in terms of the stages of change. These include pre-contemplation, contemplation and planning.
"That's very variable," Tenzer says. "Some move immediately, but for some it takes seven years to get from pre-contemplation to contemplation and then planning it. One of the stages is relapse, so it's really important to be supportive and reach patients at whatever level they're at in their ability to change."
What To Do
For more information on smoking and the elderly, visit the National Center for Tobacco-Free Older Persons or the Center for the Advancement of Health.
