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. 2009 Jan;6(1):310-20.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph6010310. Epub 2009 Jan 19.

Smoking status, changes in smoking status and health-related quality of life: findings from the SUN ("Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra") cohort

Mario Guitérrez-Bedmar  1 , María Seguí-Gómez, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, Maira Bes-Rastrollo, Miguel A Martínez-González
Affiliations

Smoking status, changes in smoking status and health-related quality of life: findings from the SUN ("Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra") cohort

Mario Guitérrez-Bedmar et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the association between smoking, changes in smoking, and quality of life in a cohort of Spanish university graduates. Smoking habits were self-reported at baseline and four years later. Quality of life was assessed using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) at year 4. Statistical differences in SF-36 scores between groups were determined using ANCOVA with age and sex as covariates. Out of 5,234 eligible participants over 2000-2006, there were 2,639 non-smoker participants, 1,419 ex-smokers, and 1,048 smokers. Within the previous four years, 435 participants became recent quitters and 205 starters. Comparing smoking and health status in year 4, non-smokers showed better scores than the other categories of ever smoking in all dimensions except in the vitality scale value, which was similar in non-smokers and in those smoking less than 15 cigarettes/day. Comparing changes in smoking and health in year 4, continuing smokers had statistically significant worse scores than non-smokers in general health, social functioning, role-emotional and mental health, whereas recent quitters showed statistically significant improvements in role-emotional and mental health over those who had continued smoking or those who became smokers. Our findings support a dose-response relationship between cigarette consumption and a worse quality of life in general and mental health in particular. They also support that changes in smoking have an impact on health.

Keywords: Health related quality of life; SF-36; Tobacco.

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