Table 1 Basic patients’ characteristics and comparison between Emergency Department-initiated tobacco control (ETC) group and control group in patients with complete baseline screening, n = 1012
ParameterAll patientsETC groupControl groupp Value
n = 1012 (100%)n = 505 (49.9%)n = 507 (50.1%)
Age in years, median (range)30 (18–78)29 (18–78)30 (18–72)0.35
Gender, n (%):
Male614 (60.7)308 (61.0)306 (60.4)0.84
Female398 (39.3)197 (39.0)201 (39.6)
Motivation to change smoking behaviour, n (%)*:
Unmotivated smokers557 (55.0)280 (55.4)277 (54.6)
Ambivalent smokers327 (32.3)163 (32.3)164 (32.3)0.73†
Motivated smokers128 (12.6)‡62 (12.3)66 (13.0)‡
No. of cigarettes smoked per day during the last 7 days, median (range)15 (1–60)15 (1–60)16 (1–50) 0.04
Nicotine dependency, n (%)§:
Low424 (41.9)222 (44.0)202 (39.8)
Medium241 (23.8)112 (22.2)129 (25.4)0.36†
High347 (34.3)171 (33.9)‡176 (34.7)‡
Smoking duration, n (%):
<1 year25 (2.5)16 (3.2)9 (1.8)
1–3 years81 (8.0)41 (8.1)40 (7.9)0.39†
4–10 years386 (38.1)191 (37.8)195 (38.5)
>10 years520 (51.4)257 (50.9)263 (51.9)‡
Age of smoking onset, n (%):
<14 years151 (14.9)80 (15.8)71 (14.0)
14–16 years375 (37.1)192 (38.0)183 (36.1)
17–18 years227 (22.4)105 (20.8)122 (24.1)0.36†
19–30 years245 (24.2)121 (24.0)124 (24.5)
>30 years14 (1.4)7 (1.4)7 (1.4)‡
Attempts to quit smoking during the last 12 months, n (%):
None584 (57.7)275 (54.5)309 (60.9)
1232 (22.9)126 (25.0)106 (20.9)0.08†
2–5159 (15.7)84 (16.6)75 (14.8)
>537 (3.7)20 (4.0)§17 (3.4)
Partner smoking, n (%):
No280 (27.7)134 (26.5)146 (28.8)
Yes434 (42.9)217 (43.0)217 (42.8)0.66
No partnership298 (29.4)154 (30.5)144 (28.4)
Hazardous alcohol consumption, n (%)¶:
Yes349 (34.5)177 (35.0)172 (33.9)0.71
No663 (65.5)328 (65.0)335 (66.1)
Illicit drug use (last 12 months), n (%):
None614 (60.7)299 (59.2)315 (62.1)
1–3 times158 (15.6)83 (16.4)75 (14.8)0.58†
4 times up to weekly131 (12.9)70 (13.9)61 (12.0)
Several times per week to daily109 (10.8)53 (10.5)56 (11.0)‡
Types of drugs in illicit drug users (n = 398), n (%):
Cannabis only201 (50.5)104 (50.5)97 (50.5)
Ecstasy/designer drugs only15 (3.8)4 (1.9)11 (5.7)0.18
Cocaine only1 (0.3)1 (0.5)0 (0.0)
All other combinations181 (45.5)‡97 (47.1)84 (43.8)
School education, n (%):
Discontinued13 (1.3)10 (2.0)3 (0.6)
10 years484 (47.8)232 (45.9)252 (49.7)0.18
11–13 years501 (49.5)256 (50.7)245 (48.3)
In school education14 (1.4)7 (1.4)7 (1.4)
Current occupation, n (%):
Full time working495 (48.9)252 (49.9)243 (47.9)
Unemployed96 (9.5)47 (9.3)49 (9.7)0.82
All other421 (41.6)206 (40.8)215 (42.4)
Marital status, n (%):
Married, living with the partner153 (15.1)68 (13.5)85 (16.8)
Married, living separate34 (3.4)19 (3.8)15 (3.0)0.42
Widowed/divorced82 (8.1)39 (7.7)43 (8.5)
Single743 (73.4)379 (75.0)364 (71.8)‡
Size of household, n (%):
1 person388 (38.3)210 (41.6)178 (35.1) 0.03
>1 person624 (61.7)295 (58.4)329 (64.9)
Net family income/month, n (%):
Below average**473 (46.7)239 (47.3)234 (46.2)0.54
Above average**298 (29.4)141 (27.9157 (31.0)
No data241 (23.8)‡125 (24.8)116 (22.9)‡
Family doctor, n (%):
Yes724 (71.5)359 (71.1)365 (72.0)0.75
No288 (28.5)146 (28.9)142 (28.0)
Visits to the family doctor (last 12 months) in patients with a family doctor (n = 724), n (%):
None63 (8.7)28 (7.8)35 (9.6)
1 or 2353 (48.8)173 (48.2)180 (49.3)0.32†
3 or more308 (42.5)158 (44.0)150 (41.1)
Medical status, n (%):
Surgical485 (47.9)238 (47.1)247 (48.7)0.61
Internal527 (52.1)267 (52.9)260 (51.3)
  • Significant values are in bold.

  • *“When do you wish to stop smoking?” (“not within the next 6 months” = unmotivated smokers, “within the next 6 months but not within the next 4 weeks” = ambivalent smokers and “within the next 4 weeks” = motivated smokers); †Mantel–Haenszel test for trend; ‡does not sum up to 100% because of rounding error; §measured with the Fagerstroem test for nicotine dependency; “low” = 0–2 points, “medium” = 3–4 points, “high” = 5–10 points; ¶measured with the AUDIT-PC questionnaire; “no” = 0 to 4 points, “yes” = 5 to 20 points; **average = mean net household income per month in Berlin in 2004 (ie, €1725).29

  • AUDIT-PC, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test – Primary Care.