Living with a nonsmoking partner and smoking cessation of middle-aged Japanese male smokers: a prospective cohort study

Background: Smokers' nonsmoking partners may be expected to encourage the smokers to quit smoking. However, there is little evidence regarding whether this expectation is applicable to the cases of middle-aged Japanese male smokers. Objective: We examined the relationship between living with a nonsmoking partner and smoking cessation of middle-aged Japanese male smokers. Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed. Five hundred seventy nine male smokers were observed for two years during which no intensive smoking cessation interventions were offered to either the subjects or their partners. The smoking status of the subjects and their partners was assessed based on the subjects' self-reporting. Age, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, educational background, illness being treated, frequent alcohol use, and occupational class of the subjects at the baseline were considered as the covariates related to their smoking behaviors. Using a multiple logistic regression analysis, we calculated the odds ratio of living with a nonsmoking partner at the baseline on smoking cessation of the subjects at the follow-up adjusted for the covariates. Results: At the follow-up, smoking cessation rates were 5.7% (24/419) among the subjects who were living with a nonsmoking partner at the baseline and 4.4% (7/160) among those who were not. The difference in cessation rates between these two groups was not statistically significant. The adjusted odds ratio of living with a nonsmoking partner at the baseline on smoking cessation was 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.31, 2.01, p = 0.625). Conclusion: This study did, not show that living with a nonsmoking partner significantly facilitated smoking cessation of middle-aged Japanese male smokers. It may be an excessive, unreal expectation that nonsmoking women in Japan automatically encourage their middle-aged male smoking partners to quit smoking when no intensive support for smoking cessation is offered.