This study was done from March to August 2013 and examined the association between smoking and family aspects in a sample of 604 patients from the Júlio Muller University Hospital, Federal University of Mato Grosso in Cuiabá, Brazil. A questionnaire about bio-demographic, family history and smoking aspects was applied, which was defined according to the criteria of the Ministry of Health. Bivariate analysis with chi-square and Fisher's exact and Poisson regression was used with the association measures of prevalence ratios with confidence interval (CI) of 95%.The prevalence of smoking was 18.2%. It was observed that the exposure factors associated with statistic significance were: paternal physical abuse, ie, the father figure (PR 1.16; 95%CI 1.03-1.31), education (RP 1.13; 95%CI 1.06-1.20), and dead parents (RP 1.12; 95%CI 1.05-1.20); and as a protective factor to be white (PR 0.91; 95%CI 0.85-0.97) and living with parents (RP 0.75; 95%CI 0.69-0.82). Results indicate that the prevalence of smoking in the studied population is associated with established relationships in the family. This study suggests that family preventive educative actions must be carried in order to achieve changes in smoking behavior.
smoking; family relations; epidemiology; public health