July 2003
From BMJ-British Medical Journal
Helping people quit remains a challenge Abstinence from smoking eight years after participation in randomised controlled of nicotine patch BMJ Volume 327, pp 28-29 Over half the people who stopped smoking for a year during a trial of nicotine replacement therapy were still not smoking eight years later, according to a study in this week's BMJ. But these long-term quitters represented only 5% of all those who had entered the trial, suggesting a need to find more effective ways to help people to give up smoking.A total of 1,625 general practice patients smoking at least 15 cigarettes a day took part in a trial of the nicotine patch in 1991-2, of whom 840 completed a follow-up questionnaire about smoking in 1999-2000. It was assumed that those lost to follow up were still smoking. Of the 153 (9%) patients who had stopped smoking for a year in the original trial, 83 were still not smoking at follow up, giving an eight year abstinence rate of 5% and a relapse rate of 46%. Although the patch increased the odds of quitting for eight years by 39%, this increase was not statistically significant. Of the 1,472 who did not quit for a year in the trial, 89 (6%) had not smoked for a year or more at follow up. Overall at follow up therefore, 11% of trial participants had not smoked for a year or more. Another 2% had quit for less than a year, and 88% were still smoking. Finding more effective ways to help people give up smoking remains an ongoing challenge. | |