Table 1. Basic patients’ characteristics and comparison between Emergency Department-initiated tobacco control (ETC) group and control group in patients with complete baseline screening, n = 1012.
| Parameter | All patients | ETC group | Control group | p Value |
| n = 1012 (100%) | n = 505 (49.9%) | n = 507 (50.1%) | ||
| Age in years, median (range) | 30 (18–78) | 29 (18–78) | 30 (18–72) | 0.35 |
| Gender, n (%): | ||||
| Male | 614 (60.7) | 308 (61.0) | 306 (60.4) | 0.84 |
| Female | 398 (39.3) | 197 (39.0) | 201 (39.6) | |
| Motivation to change smoking behaviour, n (%)*: | ||||
| Unmotivated smokers | 557 (55.0) | 280 (55.4) | 277 (54.6) | |
| Ambivalent smokers | 327 (32.3) | 163 (32.3) | 164 (32.3) | 0.73† |
| Motivated smokers | 128 (12.6)‡ | 62 (12.3) | 66 (13.0)‡ | |
| No. of cigarettes smoked per day during the last 7 days, median (range) | 15 (1–60) | 15 (1–60) | 16 (1–50) | 0.04 |
| Nicotine dependency, n (%)§: | ||||
| Low | 424 (41.9) | 222 (44.0) | 202 (39.8) | |
| Medium | 241 (23.8) | 112 (22.2) | 129 (25.4) | 0.36† |
| High | 347 (34.3) | 171 (33.9)‡ | 176 (34.7)‡ | |
| Smoking duration, n (%): | ||||
| <1 year | 25 (2.5) | 16 (3.2) | 9 (1.8) | |
| 1–3 years | 81 (8.0) | 41 (8.1) | 40 (7.9) | 0.39† |
| 4–10 years | 386 (38.1) | 191 (37.8) | 195 (38.5) | |
| >10 years | 520 (51.4) | 257 (50.9) | 263 (51.9)‡ | |
| Age of smoking onset, n (%): | ||||
| <14 years | 151 (14.9) | 80 (15.8) | 71 (14.0) | |
| 14–16 years | 375 (37.1) | 192 (38.0) | 183 (36.1) | |
| 17–18 years | 227 (22.4) | 105 (20.8) | 122 (24.1) | 0.36† |
| 19–30 years | 245 (24.2) | 121 (24.0) | 124 (24.5) | |
| >30 years | 14 (1.4) | 7 (1.4) | 7 (1.4)‡ | |
| Attempts to quit smoking during the last 12 months, n (%): | ||||
| None | 584 (57.7) | 275 (54.5) | 309 (60.9) | |
| 1 | 232 (22.9) | 126 (25.0) | 106 (20.9) | 0.08† |
| 2–5 | 159 (15.7) | 84 (16.6) | 75 (14.8) | |
| >5 | 37 (3.7) | 20 (4.0)§ | 17 (3.4) | |
| Partner smoking, n (%): | ||||
| No | 280 (27.7) | 134 (26.5) | 146 (28.8) | |
| Yes | 434 (42.9) | 217 (43.0) | 217 (42.8) | 0.66 |
| No partnership | 298 (29.4) | 154 (30.5) | 144 (28.4) | |
| Hazardous alcohol consumption, n (%)¶: | ||||
| Yes | 349 (34.5) | 177 (35.0) | 172 (33.9) | 0.71 |
| No | 663 (65.5) | 328 (65.0) | 335 (66.1) | |
| Illicit drug use (last 12 months), n (%): | ||||
| None | 614 (60.7) | 299 (59.2) | 315 (62.1) | |
| 1–3 times | 158 (15.6) | 83 (16.4) | 75 (14.8) | 0.58† |
| 4 times up to weekly | 131 (12.9) | 70 (13.9) | 61 (12.0) | |
| Several times per week to daily | 109 (10.8) | 53 (10.5) | 56 (11.0)‡ | |
| Types of drugs in illicit drug users (n = 398), n (%): | ||||
| Cannabis only | 201 (50.5) | 104 (50.5) | 97 (50.5) | |
| Ecstasy/designer drugs only | 15 (3.8) | 4 (1.9) | 11 (5.7) | 0.18 |
| Cocaine only | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.5) | 0 (0.0) | |
| All other combinations | 181 (45.5)‡ | 97 (47.1) | 84 (43.8) | |
| School education, n (%): | ||||
| Discontinued | 13 (1.3) | 10 (2.0) | 3 (0.6) | |
| 10 years | 484 (47.8) | 232 (45.9) | 252 (49.7) | 0.18 |
| 11–13 years | 501 (49.5) | 256 (50.7) | 245 (48.3) | |
| In school education | 14 (1.4) | 7 (1.4) | 7 (1.4) | |
| Current occupation, n (%): | ||||
| Full time working | 495 (48.9) | 252 (49.9) | 243 (47.9) | |
| Unemployed | 96 (9.5) | 47 (9.3) | 49 (9.7) | 0.82 |
| All other | 421 (41.6) | 206 (40.8) | 215 (42.4) | |
| Marital status, n (%): | ||||
| Married, living with the partner | 153 (15.1) | 68 (13.5) | 85 (16.8) | |
| Married, living separate | 34 (3.4) | 19 (3.8) | 15 (3.0) | 0.42 |
| Widowed/divorced | 82 (8.1) | 39 (7.7) | 43 (8.5) | |
| Single | 743 (73.4) | 379 (75.0) | 364 (71.8)‡ | |
| Size of household, n (%): | ||||
| 1 person | 388 (38.3) | 210 (41.6) | 178 (35.1) | 0.03 |
| >1 person | 624 (61.7) | 295 (58.4) | 329 (64.9) | |
| Net family income/month, n (%): | ||||
| Below average** | 473 (46.7) | 239 (47.3) | 234 (46.2) | 0.54 |
| Above average** | 298 (29.4) | 141 (27.9 | 157 (31.0) | |
| No data | 241 (23.8)‡ | 125 (24.8) | 116 (22.9)‡ | |
| Family doctor, n (%): | ||||
| Yes | 724 (71.5) | 359 (71.1) | 365 (72.0) | 0.75 |
| No | 288 (28.5) | 146 (28.9) | 142 (28.0) | |
| Visits to the family doctor (last 12 months) in patients with a family doctor (n = 724), n (%): | ||||
| None | 63 (8.7) | 28 (7.8) | 35 (9.6) | |
| 1 or 2 | 353 (48.8) | 173 (48.2) | 180 (49.3) | 0.32† |
| 3 or more | 308 (42.5) | 158 (44.0) | 150 (41.1) | |
| Medical status, n (%): | ||||
| Surgical | 485 (47.9) | 238 (47.1) | 247 (48.7) | 0.61 |
| Internal | 527 (52.1) | 267 (52.9) | 260 (51.3) |
Significant values are in bold.
*“When do you wish to stop smoking?” (“not within the next 6 months” = unmotivated smokers, “within the next 6 months but not within the next 4 weeks” = ambivalent smokers and “within the next 4 weeks” = motivated smokers); †Mantel–Haenszel test for trend; ‡does not sum up to 100% because of rounding error; §measured with the Fagerstroem test for nicotine dependency; “low” = 0–2 points, “medium” = 3–4 points, “high” = 5–10 points; ¶measured with the AUDIT-PC questionnaire; “no” = 0 to 4 points, “yes” = 5 to 20 points; **average = mean net household income per month in Berlin in 2004 (ie, €1725).29
AUDIT-PC, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test – Primary Care.