Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the changes in characteristics of smoking habits during the pandemic period. Methods: This study was conducted on the patients who admitted to Düzce University Medical Faculty Smoking Cessation Outpatient Clinic between June 2020 and January 2021 and a control group with similar age, gender, and educational background characteristics. Results: The study group with 165 patients who quit smoking during the pandemic period and the control group with 163 patients were included in the study. It was detected that patients who quit smoking during the pandemic period had attempted to quit smoking significantly less compared to those who continue smoking (p <0.04). The fagerström cigarette addiction scale scores of the patients who quit smoking during the pandemic period were found to be significantly lower than the patients who continued to smoke (p <0.001). A significant difference was found between patients who quit smoking during the pandemic period and patients who continued to smoke, in terms of psychological resilience scale total score and all subgroups (p <0.001). Conclusions: The results of our study show that the rate of efforts to quit smoking increased during the pandemic period, because smokers were affected by the negative relationship between COVID-19 and smoking, and more cessation behavior. We suggest that every patient who admitted to health institutions should be questioned in terms of smoking behavior and the psychological resilience of the patients should be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]