Fear, worry, and guilt haunt female smokers

Women who smoke are more concerned about their habit and their ability to quit than men, yet both sexes appear misinformed about smoking and its link to cancer, maintains a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, Northbrook, Ill.

The majority of smokers mistakenly think nicotine causes cancer, leading many to try "light" cigarettes because they assume them to be less harmful. Women also are more likely than men to have feelings of guilt, fear, and worry associated with tobacco use and quitting the habit.

"Men who smoke spend little time thinking about their habit and the harmful effects of smoking, especially if they have few physical side effects,"' suggests Virginia Reichert, director of the Center for Tobacco Control, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Great Neck, N.Y. "Women who smoke seem to have a great deal of anxiety about smoking. They are worried about their health, feel guilty about not quitting, and believe that cigarettes are controlling their lives."

Researchers surveyed smoking patients involved in a tobacco cessation program to evaluate smoking perceptions between genders. Of those questioned, 71.9% of women and 59.4% of men believe nicotine causes cancer, while 75% of women and 64.5% of men admit to worrying that smoking may give them cancer. More women (71.9%) than men (63.1%) report smoking "light" cigarettes, claiming they are less harmful.

"People smoke to get the addictive drug, nicotine, but the drug alone does not cause cancer. The delivery system, a cigarette full of hundreds of toxic chemicals that are inhaled along with nicotine, does," explains Reichert. "This misinformation leads many smokers to smoke 'light' cigarettes, thinking they will inhale less nicotine. In reality, smokers tend to smoke more light cigarettes and inhale more deeply ... resulting in a significant amount of harmful chemicals being inhaled."

More women than men contend that they feel guilty about their smoking habit, 77.2% vs. 61.7%, respectively. In regard to quitting smoking, 41.1% of women and 14.6% of men reveal a "fear of gaining weight," while 17.5% of women and 10.7% of men report "fear of failure" at quitting smoking. In addition, 63.1% of women and 55% of men are "worried about managing their stress without cigarettes."

Researchers emphasize that quit success is based on how much a smoker wants to break the habit and how comfortable the smoker believes he or she will be during the process.

"The majority of smokers worry about how they will manage their stress without cigarettes, and many women who smoke worry that they will gain weight if they quit," notes Reichert. "Through a comprehensive, medically supervised quit program that involves behavior modification, pharmacotherapies, and a healthy diet, most smokers who quit can expect to avoid withdrawal symptoms and minimize weight gain."

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