Smoking cessation – Related resources

Cochrane reviews

• Adding a psychosocial mood management component to a standard smoking cessation intervention may increase long-term cessation rates in smokers with both current and past depression when compared with the standard intervention alone .
• Tobacco cessation counselling interventions delivered by dental professionals may be effective in helping both cigarette smokers and smokeless tobacco users to quit .
• Varenicline may be effective for smoking cessation in individuals with schizophrenia compared to placebo .
• Bupropion appears to increase smoking abstinence rates in smokers with schizophrenia without jeopardising their mental state .
• Legislative smoking ban appears to reduce exposure to passive smoking, and admissions for acute coronary syndrome .
• Silver acetate seems not to be effective in promoting smoking cessation although the evidence is insufficient .
• Internet and mobile phone-based smoking cessation interventions may be effective for smoking cessation .
• Varenicline and behavioural interventions may be effective in helping smokeless tobacco (ST) users to quit and telephone counselling or an oral examination may increase abstinence rates .
• Family interventions with well-trained staff and well conducted delivering may be effective for preventing adolescent smoking compared to no intervention .
• Competitions and incentives do not appear to help smokers to quit in the medium to long term .
• Financing systems offering a full financial benefit directed at smokers may increase prolonged smoking abstinence rates .
• Evidence is insufficient to support any specific behavioural intervention for helping smokers who have successfully quit for a short time to avoid relapse. Extended treatment with varenicline but not with burpopion may prevent relapse .
• Most types of biomedical tests for risk assessment may not increase smoking cessation in comparison with standard treatment, but spirometry combined with an interpretation of the results in terms of 'lung age' appears to be effective.
• Tobacco advertising and promotion appears to increase the likelihood that adolescents will start to smoke .
• In school-based programmes for preventing uptake of smoking, the combined social competence and social influences interventions appears to be effective .
• Training health professionals to provide smoking cessation interventions had a measurable effect on professional performance. There was little evidence of an effect on patient outcome .
• High intensity behavioural interventions that begin during a hospital stay and include at least one month of supportive contact after discharge promote smoking cessation among hospitalised patients .
• Psychosocial smoking cessation interventions in patients with coronary heart disease may be effective in promoting abstinence at 1 year, provided they are of sufficient duration .
• Enhancing partner support for smoking cessation appears not to be effective . Trained community pharmacists, providing a counselling and record keeping support programme for their customers, may have a positive effect on smoking cessation rates .
• Self-help materials appear to provide a small increase in quitting compared to no intervention. There is evidence that materials that are tailored for individual smokers are more effective although the absolute size of effect is still small .
• Cytisine may be effective for smoking cessation compared to placebo .

• Quit and win contests appear to help some smokers to quit, but they have little effect on community smoking rates .

Clinical guidelines

• West R, McNeill A, Raw M. Smoking cessation guidelines for health professionals: an update. Health Education Authority. Thorax 2000 Dec;55(12):987-99.

Literature

• Rigotti NA. Strategies to help a smoker who is struggling to quit. JAMA 2012;308(15):1573-80.
• Hatsukami DK, Stead LF, Gupta PC. Tobacco addiction. Lancet 2008 Jun 14;371(9629):2027-38.
• Aveyard P, West R. Managing smoking cessation. BMJ 2007 Jul 7;335(7609):37-41.
• Miller W, Rollnick S. Motivational interviewing – Preparing people for change. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press 2002