PURPOSE: Cigarette smoking is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The association between smoking and eye diseases is less widely recognised relative to other better-known smoking-related conditions. This study aims to assess the awareness and fear of known smoking-related diseases among current smokers attending an ophthalmology outpatient clinic and to evaluate their relative impact on the likelihood of smoking cessation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a structured interview of randomly selected current smokers attending an eye clinic was conducted. The knowledge of six smoking-related diseases (lung cancer, heart attack, stroke, blindness, other cancers, and other lung diseases) was assessed. The fear of smoking-related conditions and the relative impact of each smoking-related condition on the smoker's motivation to quit smoking were evaluated. RESULTS: Out of 200 current smokers aged from 14 to 83 years, only 42.5% (85 patients) were aware that smoking causes blindness. Smokers' perception of harm caused by smoking was 6.53±3.21 (mean±SD) on a visual analogue scale of 0 to 10. Patients placed blindness as the second most important motivating factor to quit smoking immediately, within 1 year and 5 years, after lung cancer. CONCLUSION: The awareness of the risk of blindness from smoking was lowest compared with five other smoking-related diseases among eye patients who smoke. However, blindness remains a key motivational factor in smoking cessation and hence should be emphasised as an important negative health consequence of smoking in public health education and anti-smoking campaigns.
PURPOSE: Cigarette smoking is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The association between smoking and eye diseases is less widely recognised relative to other better-known smoking-related conditions. This study aims to assess the awareness and fear of known smoking-related diseases among current smokers attending an ophthalmology outpatient clinic and to evaluate their relative impact on the likelihood of smoking cessation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a structured interview of randomly selected current smokers attending an eye clinic was conducted. The knowledge of six smoking-related diseases (lung cancer, heart attack, stroke, blindness, other cancers, and other lung diseases) was assessed. The fear of smoking-related conditions and the relative impact of each smoking-related condition on the smoker's motivation to quit smoking were evaluated. RESULTS: Out of 200 current smokers aged from 14 to 83 years, only 42.5% (85 patients) were aware that smoking causes blindness. Smokers' perception of harm caused by smoking was 6.53±3.21 (mean±SD) on a visual analogue scale of 0 to 10. Patients placed blindness as the second most important motivating factor to quit smoking immediately, within 1 year and 5 years, after lung cancer. CONCLUSION: The awareness of the risk of blindness from smoking was lowest compared with five other smoking-related diseases among eye patients who smoke. However, blindness remains a key motivational factor in smoking cessation and hence should be emphasised as an important negative health consequence of smoking in public health education and anti-smoking campaigns.
Authors: Kevin D McCaul; Jill R Hockemeyer; Rebecca J Johnson; Kimberlee Zetocha; Kathryn Quinlan; Russell E Glasgow Journal: Addict Behav Date: 2006-01 Impact factor: 3.913
Authors: Phillip Moradi; Judith Thornton; Richard Edwards; Roger A Harrison; Stephen J Washington; Simon P Kelly Journal: Br J Ophthalmol Date: 2007-02-06 Impact factor: 4.638
Authors: Perseus Wf Wong; Jordy Kp Lau; Bonnie Nk Choy; Kendrick C Shih; Alex Lk Ng; Jonathan Ch Chan; Ian Yh Wong Journal: SAGE Open Med Date: 2020-07-20