Introduction:

Web-based interventions for smoking cessation are an innovative strategy to reduce the burden of smoking. Although many web-based interventions are freely available in many languages and have proven to be effective, so far no study has covered in detail the association between depression and smoking.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of depression among users of the Viva sem Tabaco, a web-based intervention for smoking cessation.

Method:

This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. In the internet-based intervention participated 1 433. Inclusion criteria were: being 18 years or older and a smoker; exclusion criteria were: omitting to fill out two questions of the screening depression questionnaire PHQ-2 and having made multiple accesses within a limited time span, characterizing invalid access. At the end, the sample had 461 participants. Participants answered questions related to sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco history, depression (PHQ-2 and PHQ-9), alcohol use, and intervention use.

Results:

Participants average age was 42.3 years (SD = 12.1). Most participants were female (67%), and 70% were employed during the time of the study. From the total sample, 36.4% of the participants presented depression according to PHQ-2. Being screened with depression was associated with tobacco dependence (OR = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.00, 1.20), and associated with not having a job (OR = .53; 95% CI = .29, .97).

Discussion and conclusion:

Depression may be a factor to be considered in programs that offer support to quit smoking through the internet for Portuguese Speakers.

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