Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Halk Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı, ANKARA In a study carried out to determine socio-demographic characteristics, life quality, and health status of people in Van Province, data of 124 sixty-five years of age and older people (57 males and 67 females) were collected living in 935 houses. The aim of the present study is to determine the smoking prevalence of 65 years of age and older people in Van province.
Thirty-one out of 124 participants stated that they were current smokers (25.0%). Majority of women did not smoke (76.1%) and 13.4% of them were current smokers. 38.6% of men were current smokers. Percent age of men who stated they had never smoked in their lives were 24.6. The difference between males’ and females’ smoking status was statistically significant (p=0.00). The mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 6.56 (±6.89) for females and 19.4 (±10.4) for males.
Among 65 years and older people, males smoked more than females both in frequency and number of cigarette smoked per day. For both gender, anti-smoking activities are recommended, however, males should be supported more than females in this study group. Keywords : Elderly, Female, Male, Smoking prevalence