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Telling smokers their "lung age" promoted successful smoking cessation

G Parkes

Dr G Parkes, The Limes Surgery, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, UK; parkesko@hotmail.co.uk

QUESTION
Does describing to patients how smoking has accelerated their age-related decline in lung function ("lung age") increase smoking cessation rates?

METHODS
Design: randomised controlled trial.

Allocation: concealed.

Blinding: blinded (outcome assessors).

Follow-up period: 12 months.

Setting: 5 general practices in Hertfordshire, UK.

Patients: 561 current smokers 35 years of age (mean age 53 y, 54% women, mean 17 cigarettes/d, mean 33 pack-y of smoking). Patients receiving oxygen or with a history of lung cancer, tuberculosis, asbestosis, silicosis, bronchiectasis, or pneumonectomy were excluded.

Intervention: all patients had spirometry at baseline to measure forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV₁). Patients in the intervention group (n = 280) were immediately given their results verbally and graphically as "lung age" (the age of the average healthy person who has an FEV₁ equal to that of the patient); patients in the control . . . [Full text of this article]

George Shuster

University of New Mexico College of Nursing, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA