Internet-based interventions for smoking cessation show inconsistent effects across trials, with only some trials showing a benefit
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
- Correspondence to Carla J Berg
1518 Clifton Road NE, Room 524, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; cjberg{at}emory.edu
Leveraging technology to achieve public health goals
Technology greatly impacts our lives and thus has fostered a burgeoning interest in how it can be used effectively to enhance public health. Because cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States,1 addressing this concern through technology-based approaches may have significant public health implications. The primary objective of this Cochrane review was to determine the effectiveness of Internet-based interventions for smoking cessation.
The bottom line
The authors included randomised and quasi-randomised trials of smokers using any type of Internet-based intervention in comparison to no-intervention controls or other Internet programs. Limited meta-analysis was performed due to the heterogeneity …
