[Frequency and location of inhaling tobacco smoke by the still smoking participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition who live in cities].

Mount of toxic chemical substances supplied to the human organism is directly proportional to the number of smoked cigarettes. Passive smoking is harmful not only for the non-smokers but also for the smokers themselves. The aim of the work is to establish the number of smoked cigarettes and location where tobacco smoke is inhaled at home, together with checking the differences in behaviour concerning smoking tobacco among the still smoking participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition who live in cities. Leading long-term researches, in August 2006, another questionnaire was sent by post to 1700 participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition organized in 1996 in Poland at the end of the 2nd International Antinicotine Campaign. Answers were sent back in by 648 people 550 of whom (which is 84.9%) lived in cities. Ten years after joining the 'Quit and Win' competition, from among 550 respondents living in cities, 126 (22.9%) said they still smoke. 52.4% (66 people) of those still inhaling tobacco smoke lived in big cities, which is basically Lodz, 23.8% (30 people) lived in cities with fifty to two hundred thousand people and also 23.8% (30 people) lived in cities below fifty thousand inhabitants. The ratio of smoking respondents living in big cities was 27.0% (66 people), in cities with fifty to two hundred thousand people - 19.6% (30 people) and among respondents living in cities below fifty thousand inhabitants, also 19.6% (30 people). People smoking a large number of cigarettes, that is from 11 to 40 cigarettes a day made up for the majority of the respondents living in big cities (44 people, f = 0.67), whereas the lowest number (11 people, f = 0.37) was among the respondents from cities between fifty to two hundred thousand inhabitants. People who could not quit smoking throughout the ten-year period (126 people) were asked in which part of the house they smoke most often after work. The analysis of the answers allowed to draw a conclusion that 72 people (57.2%) smoked mostly in the house, in the room (51 people = 40.5%) or in the bathroom, or the kitchen (21 people = 16.7%), whereas 54 respondents (42.8%) concluded that in order to smoke they usually go out to the hall or to the balcony. Those who smoked at home but outside the flat, were primarily from the cities of below fifty thousand inhabitants (17 people, f = 0.57), whereas the smallest part was made up of respondents living in big cities (24 people, f = 0.36). The obtained results proved that frequency and location of the inhaled tobacco smoke by the still smoking participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition living in cities differed significantly and depended on the size of the city.