Smoking Cessation Interventions

Smoking Cessation Interventions; Behavioural interventions

Author Dr. Mohammed H. AL-Doghether ABFM, SBFM. Consultant family medicine Director of Center of Postgraduate studies in Family Medicine Ministry of Health P.O.Box 90945 Riyadh 11623 Saudi Arabia Tel number: 4961860 Fax number: 4970847 E-mail: doghether@hotmail.com Summary Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that usually requires repeated intervention. Effective interventions exist that can produce long-term cessation at up to double the rate achieved by smokers without treatment. Because of the potential health benefits and availability of effective interventions every smoker should be offered effective intervention. The identification of smoking status and the provision of brief advice independently increase cessation rate compared to no intervention and should be routine as part of each contact with health services. Interventions involving individual, group or proactive telephone counselling are more effective than no intervention .There is a strong dose response between the intensity (number and length of sessions) of tobacco cessation counselling and its effectiveness .		Magnitude of the problem International studies indicate that one in two people who smoke long term die early due to smoking, with half of these deaths occurring in middle age⁽¹⁾ . As well as causing premature death, use of tobacco greatly diminishes quality of life⁽²⁾, and this affects family, friends and colleagues, as well as smokers themselves. Tobacco smoking also places a huge financial drain on the community. Saudi Arabia currently imports more than 20,000 million cigarettes annually, costing $351.8 million (ranked 10th in the world in terms of expenditure on cigarettes)⁽³⁾. These costs do not include health care expenditure, lost productivity, costs of tobacco addiction prevention and treatment as well as a number of other indirect costs, which bound to be high. Health effects of smoking Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for a range of diseases and disabling conditions. These include cardiovascular disease and stroke and many cancers, including cancers of the lung, throat, cervix, bladder and tongue⁽⁴⁾. Smoking adversely affects male impotence, and women who smoke can suffer reduced fertility and/or menstrual problems. Smoking during pregnancy increases risks of miscarriage, premature labour, stillbirth, complications during labour and low-birth weight babies ⁽⁴⁾. Tobacco smoke also affects the health of non-smokers. Passive smoking (environmental tobacco smoke) can cause cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, respiratory tract irritation, and an increased risk of bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma onset in children and increased frequency and severity of asthma symptoms and sudden infant death syndrome^(4,5).