A revolutionary approach for the cessation of smoking

<正>It is well known that smoking is harmful to our health. It is estimated that 1.3 billion people are smokers worldwide and 5.4 million deaths are caused by tobacco smoking each year. In China, about 1.2 million people die because of smoking each     

A smoking cessation intervention program for family physicians.

Family physicians are able to approach many patients who smoke but are often hesitant to help them quit. Lack of knowledge about effective interventions is a major reason for this hesitancy. The important components that have been tested in physician-initiated smoking cessation interventions are advice to quit, information about the risks of smoking and techniques for quitting, nicotine gum, setting a date for quitting and offers of supportive follow-up visits. We describe a cessation program developed for family physicians that incorporates these factors into three types of visits over a 2-month period: the challenge visit, which occurs during a regular office visit and focuses on advice and setting a date to quit; the quit-date visit, which involves instructing patients on the proper use of nicotine gum, if applicable, and confirming their desire to quit; and four supportive follow-up visits, which provide continuing encouragement for 2 months and allow physicians to monitor withdrawal symptoms, relapses and other problems. Such a program can be effectively incorporated into a general practice.     

Smoking and cancer: smoking cessation.

Smoking is the single most important cause of cancer. The risk of developing cancer is reduced by stopping smoking and decreases substantially after five years. Reduction in smoking must be central to any programme aimed seriously at the prevention of cancer. An individual approach, based in primary care, has the potential to bring about modest but important reductions in risk. Many randomised trials have shown the effectiveness of various smoking cessation interventions in primary care. Given resource limitations in primary care, individual effort should be focused on those at highest risk who are motivated to stop smoking. A population strategy has considerable advantages over the high risk approach as the potential for reducing morbidity and mortality in the whole population is much greater. The government must acknowledge its major responsibility; the outstanding example of its failure to do this is its persistent refusal to ban outright all forms of advertising and promotion of tobacco. There is clear evidence that a ban would contribute to a reduction in smoking prevalence and especially in the uptake of smoking by children.     

Association between lung cancer screening and smoking cessation

IntroductionAdults with high-risk smoking histories benefit from annual lung cancer screening. It is unclear if there is an association between lung cancer screening and smoking cessation among U.S. adults who receive screening.MethodsWe performed this population-based cross-sectional study using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2017–2020). We defined individuals eligible for lung cancer screening as adults 55–80 years old with ≥ 30 pack-year smoking history who were currently smoking or quit within the last 15 years. We assessed the association between lung cancer screening and current smoking status.ResultsBetween 2017 and 2020, 12,382 participants met screening criteria. Current smoking was reported by 5685 (45.9 %) participants, of whom 40.4 % (2298) reported a cessation attempt in the prior year. Lung cancer screening was reported by only 2022 (16.3 %) eligible participants. Lung cancer screening was associated with lower likelihood of currently smoking (odds ratio [OR] 0.705, 95 % CI 0.626–0.793) compared to individuals who did not receive screening. Screening was also associated with higher likelihood of reporting a cessation attempt in the prior year (OR 1.562, 95 % CI 1.345–1.815) compared to individuals who did not receive screening.ConclusionsReceipt of lung cancer screening was associated with lower smoking rates and more frequent cessation attempts among U.S. adults. Better implementation of lung cancer screening programs is critical and may profoundly increase smoking cessation in this population at risk of developing lung cancer.