Med. praxi. 2025;22(3):E1-E4 | DOI: 10.36290/med.2025.029

Tobacco/nicotine addiction in daily practice

prof. MUDr. Eva Králíková, CSc.^1,2, MUDr. Zuzana Adamčeková¹

¹ Centrum pro závislé na tabáku III. interní kliniky – kliniky endokrinologie a metabolismu 1. LF UK a VFN v Praze

² Ústav hygieny a epidemiologie 1. LF UK a VFN v Praze

In many practices, interest in the diagnosis of F17 ends with an inquiry about smoking or a recommendation to stop. However, this is a disease for which effective treatments exist and should therefore be offered and available in the same way as treatments for other diseases. For example, there are roughly twice as many smokers (1) as diabetics in the Czech Republic, but the treatment options offered do not match this. In addition, other forms of tobacco or nicotine than cigarettes are now available. As a standard, we should ask about the use of all forms of tobacco or smoking, recommend abstinence, inform about treatment, and offer it where appropriate. Simply recommending ‚Don‘t smoke‘ is not enough; for comparison, think of a diabetic to whom we would simply say ‚Don‘t eat sweets‘. In practice, there is usually only time for a short intervention, but even this is very important – every patient should hear it from every doctor. That is its effectiveness. The article provides an estimate of the health risks of each product, the risk of addiction, and current treatment options for F17.

Keywords: smoking, tobacco, nicotine, practice, treatment

Received: July 31, 2024; Revised: April 1, 2025; Accepted: April 17, 2025; Published: June 26, 2025  Show citation