[Course on smoking cessation organized by the Italian League against Cancer in Florence: determinants of cessation at the end of the course and after 1 year]

The Italian League against Cancer, section of Florence, organizes courses for smoking-cessation groups. Groups meet for 10 sessions throughout 6 weeks; sessions are managed by a psychologist with a cognitive-behavioral approach. In the 53 analyzed courses registered people (693 persons) are mainly women, aged 31-50, with a middle-high level of education. They are heavy smokers with a high level of nicotine dependence and they greatly trust in the course in spite of their previous quit attempts. At the end of the program 66% of registered people (69% of men; 63% of women; p > 0.05) asserts not to smoke anymore. One year later, phone interviews show that 33% of participants (41% of men; 28% of women; p < 0.01) are ex-smokers. After the end of the program the first three months are the higher risk period of relapsing. At the end of the program quitting-smoking predictors are: attendance at at least 7 sessions (OR = 4.26), no more than a high school educational level (OR = 1.71) and smoking less than 30 cig. a day before the course (OR = 1.56). One year later quitting-smoking predictors are: attendance at at least 7 sessions (OR = 2.08), scarce or medium nicotine dependence according to the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (OR = 1.42) and male gender (OR = 1.40).

[Evaluation of migratory intraregional flow for the surgical treatment of breast cancer]

The migratory intraregional flows for the treatment of breast cancer have been analyzed in Tuscany. The analysis has been carried out taking the province of Pistoia as a sample and the main sanitarian Florentine structures as a pole of migration in the years 1992-93. The patients suffering from breast cancer were 269 in the two years. The expected number of cases of breast cancer in the province is of 137.25/year. In the period considered the patients that addressed to Florence were 41.63% while the women remained in the province were 58.36%. The migration toward Florence seems to have been mainly affected by age, since most of the hospitalization in this pole referred to patients younger than 54. The sick women choose to be admitted to Florence irrespective of their residence municipality. The provincial hospitals in which the investigation has been carried out are those of Pistoia and Pescia. As far as concerns the type of intervention carried out in the three sanitarian poles, the surgery of conservative type prevails in Florence, the mastectomies in Pescia, while in Pistoia the two types of interventions show a comparable frequency. From such evidences we can assume the choice of the Florentine pole as a structure for the treatment of breast cancer; also in relation to the fact that in the examined province, in the years considered, a service of radiotherapy was not still active.