People who are not ready to quit smoking right now, but they want to reduce their smoking are twice as likely to give up the habit in the long term if they use nicotine replacement therapy, according to a study appearing in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal.
The study is the work of researchers at the University of Birmingham who reviewed seven randomized controlled trials that compared the outcomes of using NRT gum or inhalators to placebos.
Almost 3,000 people were involved in the trials. They were given NRT for 6-18 months, which made 6.75 percent of them achieve six months of sustained abstinence – twice the proportion who were given placebos. The finding supports previous studies showing that half of those who sustain six months of abstinence will maintain it for the rest of their lives.
“Until now experts have advised people not to reduce their smoking but to quit abruptly. The worry has been that advising reduction will somehow deter people from the better alternative, which is stopping right now. This treatment program is a way of potentially encouraging a lot more smokers into actually using nicotine replacement, which in the long term will help more of them stop smoking than if they hadn’t done so,” Paul Aveyard, one of the researchers, said.
The finding could serve as an example to millions of people worldwide who want to stop smoking but from different reasons do not succeed. In the UK, only 2 to 3 percent of those trying to quit smoking also succeed. U.S. research suggests the average smoker tries six to 11 times to quit.
Smoking alone cannot be seen as a killer, but in people suffering from conditions such as obesity and heart disease, the habit “is like gasoline on the fire,” as it aggravates symptoms leading to death eventually.
A report released last year by the CDC noted that cigarette smoking caused 443,000 deaths per year in the United States for the years 2000 to 2004. If we also add deaths caused by second hand smoking, there will be around 500,000 deaths per year simply because of smoking.
Worldwide, smoking killed 100 million people in the previous century, according to the World Health Organization. The organization cautioned that in the 21st century it could kill one billion people unless something is done.
Smoking is estimated to shorten someone’s life by 10 years. On the long run, it may lead to heart disease, stroke, emphysema, osteoporosis, fertility problems and various forms of cancer.
Smokers should also be aware of the fact that this bad habit attracts infections. The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices released in October a recommendation for the smokers aged between 19 and 64 to be added on a list of candidates for the pneumococcal vaccine. This happened because of the fact that many data had shown that smokers are at higher risk than non-smokers to develop pneumonia.
