Table 5.
Predictors of asking about smoking status and advising smokers to quit
| Usually asks if a patient smokes | Usually advises smokers to quit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bivariate | Bivariate | |||
| Characteristic | Multivariate | Multivariate | ||
| Attitudes (Always or usually compared to sometimes, usually not, or never) | ||||
| Physicians should offer to help smokers quit* | 1.31 (1.12–1.53) | 1.17 (1.01–1.35) | 1.53 (1.24–1.89) | 1.21 (0.92–.60) |
| Most smokers will follow my smoking cessation advice*† | 2.25 (1.98–2.53) | 1.58 (1.41–1.78) | 3.85 (2.94–5.04) | 2.05 (1.68–2.50) |
| Counseling on direct health harms from smoking usually helps with smoking cessation*† | 6.46 (5.30–7.89) | 4.35 (3.49–5.42) | 19.36 (14.61–25.65) | 9.89 (7.43–13.17) |
| Counseling on passive smoking health harms usually helps with smoking cessation*† | 3.40 (2.75–4.20) | 1.30 (1.04–1.64) | 8.87 (6.84–11.51) | 2.00 (1.59–2.51) |
| Knowledge (Definite relationship compared to possible or no relationship) | ||||
| Active smoking and ischemic heart disease | 1.75 (1.49–2.07) | 1.12 (0.92–1.35) | 1.62 (1.40–1.89) | 1.04 (0.96–1.13) |
| Passive smoking and ischemic heart disease* | 1.84 (1.44–2.35) | 1.36 (1.03–1.79) | 1.58 (1.31–1.89) | 1.06 (0.89–1.26) |
| Age (compared to less than 30) | ||||
| 30–39* | 0.62 (0.51–0.74) | 0.63 (0.53–0.74) | 0.81 (0.67–0.97) | 0.94 (0.81–1.09) |
| 40–49* | 0.42 (0.36–0.50) | 0.44 (0.37–0.53) | 0.67 (0.56–0.81) | 0.82 (0.63–1.06) |
| 50–59* | 0.44 (0.37–0.53) | 0.42 (0.35–0.51) | 0.68 (0.54–0.85) | 0.73 (0.52–1.01) |
| 60+* | 0.43 (0.26–0.73) | 0.41 (0.23–0.72) | 0.86 (0.56–1.32) | 1.14 (0.71–1.84) |
| Smoking status (compared to never smoker) | ||||
| Current smoker† | 0.83 (0.72–0.95) | 0.98 (0.85–1.14) | 0.54 (0.42–0.71) | 0.66 (0.45–0.96) |
| Former smoker | 0.80 (0.53–1.20) | 0.88 (0.55–1.41) | 0.97 (0.54–1.75) | 1.19 (0.59–2.40) |
| Male gender (compared to female) | 1.14 (0.96–1.36) | 1.09 (0.90–1.32) | 0.84 (0.69–1.03) | 1.02 (0.81–1.29) |
| Physician specialty (compared to internal medicine) | ||||
| Surgery† | 0.65 (0.50–0.85) | 0.86 (0.67–1.10) | 0.47 (0.34–0.64) | 0.68 (0.49–0.93) |
| Other*† | 0.29 (0.22–0.38) | 0.38 (0.28–0.50) | 0.34 (0.27–0.42) | 0.45 (0.35–0.59) |
Reported values are odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals are reported in parentheses. Knowledge questions compare definite relationship to possible or no relationship.
*
p < 0.05 for multivariate analysis of asking patients about smoking status.
†
p<0.05 for multivariate analysis of advising smokers to quit