PREVALENCE OF CIGARETTE-SMOKING IN A GROUP OF MALE VETERANS WITH CHRONIC SPINAL-CORD INJURY

Male veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) were surveyed regarding th eir smoking history. Subjects (n = 250) were placed in one of two cate gories: never smokers (smoked less than or equal to 100 cigarettes in lifetime), or ever smokers (divided into former smokers, quit smoking for >1 year, or current smokers), Never smokers constituted 23.2%, and ever smokers constituted 76.8% of the sample. Among the ever smokers, 59.4% had quit, compared with 49.1% in the general population (p < 0. 05), In the former smokers, 23% had quit before injury, 24% quit withi n 1 year of injury, and the remaining 53% quit >1 year after injury. I n this sample veteran SCI population, the number of current smokers is comparable to that found in the general population. The lower number of never smokers with SCI(23.2%) compared with the general population (49.9%) most likely reflects the smoking habits of a veteran populatio n.