Review: advice from doctors, counselling by nurses, behavioural interventions, nicotine replacement therapy, and several pharmacological treatments increase smoking cessation rates
QUESTION: Are smoking cessation interventions effective?
Data sources
Reviews were identified by searching the Cochrane Library.
Study selection
Reviews were selected if they included randomised controlled trials of interventions to reduce or prevent tobacco use that had ≥6 months of follow up with outcomes of sustained abstinence or point prevalence quit rates.
Data extraction
Extracted data included interventions and outcomes.
Main results
20 systematic reviews were available in the Cochrane Library. 1 review (including 31 trials and >26 000 participants who smoked) examined simple advice given by doctors during routine care and showed that the intervention increased quit rates (weighted odds ratio [OR] 1.69, 95% CI 1.45 to 1.98). Another review of individual counselling given by nurses also showed increased quit rates.
Behavioural interventions for smoking cessation, in the forms of individual counselling (1 review) or group therapy (1 review), showed increased quit rates. The review of individual counselling (including 9 trials) showed that it was more effective than brief …
