Lack of awareness towards smoking-related health risks, symptoms related to COPD, and attitudinal factors concerning smoking: an Internet-based survey conducted in a random sample of the Danish general population

Figures & data

Table 1. Demography of the Danish population and the study population.

DemographyN (%)		Background population*	Study population
Gender
	Male	2792,279 (49.6)]	515 (51.4)
	Female	2834,956 (50.4)	487 (48.6)
Age (years)
	18–34	1171,863 (26.3)	195 (19.5)
	35–44	753,265 (17.0)	149 (14.9)
	45–54	805,921 (18.1)	194 (19.4)
	55–64	692,028 (15.6)	211 (21.1)
	65–75	611,679 (13.7)	221 (22.1)
	75–	415,055 (9.3)	32 (3.2)
Education		(20–69 years)	(18 years+)
	Primary and lower secondary education	777,282 (21.4)	147 (14.7)
	Upper secondary education	338,741 (9.3)	98 (9.8)
	Short higher education	1405,189 (38.7)	217 (21.7)
	Middle higher education	616,847 (17.0)	359 (35.8)
	Long higher education	311,222 (8.6)	163 (16.3)
	Unknown	181,570 (5.0)	18 (1.8)
Region
	Capital region of Denmark	141,3478 (31.1)	327 (32.6)
	Region Zealand	653,415 (14.5)	129 (12.9)
	The South Denmark region	956,750 (21.4)	215 (21.5)
	Central Denmark Region	1010,918 (22.7)	228 (22.8)
	The North Denmark region	466,701 (10.3)	103 (10.3)
Smoker/Ex-smoker	Gender
	Male	18.6	80 (15.5)/202 (39.2)
	Female	15.5	97 (19.9)/158 (32.4)
	Total	17.0	177 (17.7)/360 (35.9)
	Age (years)
	18–34/16–34	14.2	43 (22.1)/34 (17.4)
	35–44	16.3	28 (18.8)/41 (27.5)
	45–54	21	45 (23.2)/59 (30.4)
	55–64	21.4	33 (15.6)/98 (46.3)
	65–74	16.9	27 (12.2)/110 (49.8)
	>75	12	1 (3.1)/18 (56.3)

*Demographics of Denmark in 2014. StatBank Denmark. http://www.statistikbanken.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1366.

Table 2. Knowledge of COPD in the study population.

			Smoking status							Gender					Age (years)
Question		N (%)	Smoker		Ex-smokers		Never smokers		p-Value	Men		Women		p-Value	18–54		>55		p-Value
Do you know the symptoms of COPD?
	Yes		153	86.4	321	89.2	379	81.51		422	81.9	431	88.5		434	80.7	419	90.3
	No		23	13.0	30	8.3	72	15.5	<0.001*	75	14.6	50	10.3	p = 0.028	92	17.1	33	7.1	p < 0.001
	I don’t know		1	0.6	9	2.5	14	3		18	3.5	6	1.2		12	2.2	12	2.6
Sum			177	100.0	360	100.0	465	100		515	100.0	487	100.0		538	100.0	464	100.0
Have you ever had a pulmonary function test performed?
	Yes, once		31	17.5	90	25.0	119	25.6		124	24.1	116	23.8		106	19.7	134	28.9
	Yes, several times		50	28.2	119	33.1	96	20.6	<0.001**	151	29.3	114	23.4	p = 0.047**	116	21.6	149	32.1	p < 0.001**
	No		95	53.7	143	39.7	236	50.8		228	44.3	246	50.5		305	56.7	169	36.4
	I don’t know		1	0.6	8	2.2	14	3		12	2.3	11	2.3		11	2.0	12	2.6
Sum			177	100	360	100.0	465	100		515	100.0	487	100.0		538	100.0	464	100.0
Do you think that it is people’s own fault when they develop COPD?
	Agree		94	53.1	168	46.7	226	48.6		207	52.4	218	44.8		282	52.4	206	44.4
	Disagree		58	32.8	145	40.3	169	36.34	p = 0.241	169	32.8	203	41.7	p = 0.004	179	33.3	193	41.6	p = 0.005
	I don’t know		25	14.1	47	13.1	70	15.1		76	14.8	66	13.6		77	14.3	65	14.0
Sum			177	100.0	360	100.0	465	100		452	100.0	487	100.0		538	100.0	464	100.0
Do you regard COPD as a deadly disease?
Yes			95	53.7	232	64.4	273	58.7		290	56.3	310	63.7		304	56.5	296	63.8
No			50	28.2	70	19.4	93	20	p = 0.035***	114	22.1	99	20.3	p = 0.193	128	23.8	85	18.3	p = 0.018
I don’t know			32	18.1	58	16.1	99	21.3		111	21.6	78	16.0		106	19.7	83	17.9
Sum			177	100	360	100.0	465	100		515	100.0	487	100.0		538	100.0	464	100.0

*p for trend <0.001. Active smokers and ex-smokers significantly differed from never-smokers. Active smokers versus ex-smokers: p = 0.104.

**‘Once or several times’ were tested against ‘no.’ Active smokers and never-smokers significantly differed from ex-smokers (p for trend <0.001). Active smokers versus never-smokers: p = 0.710.

***p for trend = 0.035. Smokers differed significantly from ex-smokers and from never-smokers. Ex-smokers versus never-smokers: p = 0.504.

Table 3. The most feared diseases in the study population.

	Total	%	Smokers	%	Ex-smokers	%	Never-smokers	%
1	Cancer	69.20	Cancer	62.1	Cancer	71.7	Cancer	69.9
2	Psychiatric disorder	10.10	Psychiatric disorder	11.3	CVD	7.8	Psychiatric disorder	11
3	Other	7.00	Other	11.3	Psychiatric disorder	8.3	Other	6.9
4	CVD	5.50	COPD	5.1	Other	5.0	CVD	4.5
5	COPD	2.50	CVD	3.4	Osteoporosis	2.8	Allergy	1.9
6	Osteoporosis	1.90	Allergy	2.3	COPD	1.9	COPD	1.9
7	Allergy	1.60	Arthritis	1.7	Allergy	0.8	Arthritis	1.5
8	Arthritis	1.30	Osteoporosis	1.7	Arthritis	0.8	Osteoporosis	1.3
9	Diabetes	1.00	Diabetes	1.1	Diabetes	0.8	Diabetes	1.1
Question: What disease do you fear the most?

CVD: Cardiovascular disease.

Figure 1. Questions about smoking cessation and treatment of lifestyle diseases.