Objective: To determine the level of intervention provided by primary care physicians to individuals who smoke.
Setting: 45 primary care clinics throughout the upper Midwest.
Patients: 6,086 men and women (M:F = 1:2), ages 50 to 68, who sought medical care at any one of the 45 primary care clinics and completed two questionnaires regarding preventive medical services received during the previous 3 years (1990-1993).
Results: Of patients who smoke, 92% reported that their clinician had asked about their smoking status. Additionally, 86% reported being informed at their clinic of the dangers of tobacco use. A smaller percentage of individuals (60.1%) reported being explicitly advised on how to quit, and fewer still (27.2%) reported being referred to a stop smoking program.
Conclusions: While most clinicians inquire about their patients' smoking status and recommend they quit, there currently exists a deficiency in the translation of these recommendations into concise, explicit instructions on how to quit. By increasing the frequency of clinicians giving specific advice about how to quit, the overall success rate of the public health campaign against tobacco use will be greatly enhanced.