The influence of anxiety on the behavior of smoking in patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Background: Affective disturbances can influence the attitude toward smoking in patients with various diseases. This study aims to assess the level of anxiety and its influence on smoking behavior in a group of adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: The study included 64 smokers with CAP admitted in the Clinic of Infectious Diseases, Timisoara between 2012 and 2014. All patients answered the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-X2 anonymous test. The final scores allowed the classification of patients by their level of anxiety: minimal (score below 40), moderate (score 40-60) and severe (score over 60). Other variables were: sex, education, number of cigarettes smoked/day, etc. The obtained data was statistically processed with EpiInfo 6 program. Results: Out of study group, 40 patients (62.51%) were male and 24 (37.50%) werewomen; and were recorded43 patients withsevere anxiety and 21 with moderate anxiety (p=0.02); 22 patients were smoking less than 10 cigarettes/day and 42 patients were smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day were smoking (p=0.04); Out of the 22 patients who were smoking less than 10 cigarettes/day, 18 patients showed with moderate anxiety and 4 withsevere anxiety were reported. Out of the 42 patients who were smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day, 36 withsevere anxiety and 6 with moderate anxietywere reported.Only 13 (20.31%) patients accepted anti-smoking counseling. Conclusions: Taking in to consideration the level of anxiety among the patients with CAP leads to an increased number of cigarettes smoked/day, it is required to establish programs in order to enhance the level of medical education and to support the anti-smoking counseling.