Objective: To define the profile of smokers who seek professional assistance through a smoking cessation program and to compare smoker profiles among males, females and elderly people. Methods: Two-hundred and three smokers were prospectively evaluated. The participants completed questionnaires related to smoking history, history of psychiatric disorders, depression, anxiety and nicotine dependence as well as a general self-report questionnaire. Results: In this sample, 58.6% of the individuals were female (119). The mean age was 45.3 ± 12.0 years, with no statistically significant difference between genders (p = 0.391). The majority of the individuals in the sample (84.2%) presented socioeconomic class C or above. Sixty-three percent had at least a high school education. Depression was more often referred to by women, and the difference between genders was borderline significant (p = 0.069). However, when depression was evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory, there was no statistically significant difference between genders and between elderly and nonelderly people. Conclusions: In the profile of the smokers who sought assistance, we identified aspects (such as being female and having been diagnosed with depression) that are known predictors of treatment failure. This shows the importance of carrying out a complete pre-evaluation of the profile of a smoker who seeks a smoking cessation program. Thus, procedures can be adopted prior to and during the treatment of the smoker, with the objective of increasing treatment success rates.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Smoking.

Objective: To provide access to the results of a randomized cross-sectional study conducted by the Brazilian Center for Information on Psychotropic Drugs in 2001. Methods: This survey involved a random sample of individuals ranging from 12 to 65 years of age and residing in the 107 largest cities (over 200,000 inhabitants) in Brazil, which represented 27.7% of the Brazilian population, estimated to be 169,799,170 inhabitants at the time. A total of 8,589 interviews were conducted. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration questionnaire, translated and adapted for use in Brazil, was used in the interviews. Results: Of the sample as a whole, 41.1% of the interviewees reported having experimented with tobacco products. The prevalence of daily smokers was 17.4% (20.3% among males and 14.8% among females). We found that 9% of the sample (10.1% of the men and 7.9% of the women) were nicotine-dependent, according to the criteria of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Conclusions: The prevalence of current smoking in the 107 largest cities of Brazil is significantly lower in this decade than was the national prevalence at the end of last century.

Keywords: Smoking/epidemiology; Tobacco use disorder; Smoking cessation.