Characteristics of Smoking Cessation in Former Smokers in a Rural Area of Japan

Objectives: japan has a relatively high prevalence of smoking inmen. despite the importance of behavioral patterns on successfulsmoking cessation, only limited information is available in japan.the present study collected data from former smokers in a ruralcommunity in japan in order to identify health status at the timeof cessation, predominant motivating factors, and the role ofsmoking cessation aids in individuals who successfully stoppedsmoking.methods: this cross?sectional study collected data using aself?reported questionnaire from 149 randomly?selected formersmokers (119 men and 30 women, aged 20?79 years) who wereresidents of nanao, ishikawa prefecture, japan.results: of the male participants, 14.3% quit due to seriouspersonal health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer,or respiratory tract disease, while 20.8% of former smokersexperienced mild personal health problems or were pregnant atthe time of cessation. an approximately equal number stoppedsmoking due to fear of illness in the absence of immediate healthconcerns. compared to personal health motivations, a smallernumber of male smokers quit due to anti?smoking social pressureor expense. we also observed a marked increase in former smokerswho quit for these reasons in recent years. smoking lost its appealin 19.3% of male and 10.0% of female smokers. approximately,95% of quitters did not utilize health professional counseling orpharmacological therapy.conclusions: personal health concerns in former smokers innanao, japan were the predominant motivation for quittingsmoking, with the vast majority of former smokers achievingsuccessful smoking cessation by themselves.