Lyubima Despotova-Toleva
Plovdiv Medical University, Bulgaria
Title: Smoking cessation in COPD and Asthma patients: Part of a pilot study
Biography
Biography: Lyubima Despotova-Toleva
Abstract
Smoking is the largest avoidable cause of preventable morbidity worldwide. It causes most of the cases of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and contributes to the development of other lung diseases. The aim of this study was to address the effectiveness of a multi-level variety of interventions aiming at smoking cessation in high risk target groups within high middle-income countries (HMIC) such as unemployed young adults, COPD and asthma patients, as well as within the general population in low middle-income countries (LMIC). We investigate the effect of motivation for smoking cessation in 60 smokers devided in three groups–COPD patients, asthma patients and young unemployed adults. We used a special tool-kit of questionnaires (behavior tests, CAT score and CASIS for COPD patients and asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) and CASIS for asthmatic patients) to assess their motivation. Medical examination, a test detecting the CO in the breath exhaled and a spirometry to assess the lungs’ need to get rid of tobacco smoke were also performed. The observation sessions were repeated two more times accordingly to a timetable and protocol in order to detect improvement as a result of changed smoking habits. Our results are compared to the results from other countires, working under the SmokeFreeBrain project. Primary and secondary analyzes were performed. The reported results are not published yet.