An ED-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention Is Feasible, Effective

THURSDAY, March 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A brief opportunistic intervention to support sustained tobacco smoking abstinence in the emergency department is feasible and effective, according to a study published online March 26 in the Emergency Medicine Journal.

Ian Pope, M.B.B.S., from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated whether an opportunistic emergency department-based smoking cessation intervention can help people to quit smoking. Adults who smoked daily and were seen in one of six emergency departments were randomly assigned to an intervention group (brief advice, electronic cigarette starter kit, and referral to stop-smoking services; 484 individuals) or a control group (written information on stop-smoking services; 488 individuals).

The researchers found that the six-month biochemically verified abstinence rate was 7.2 percent in the intervention group versus 4.1 percent in the control group (relative risk, 1.76). The self-reported, seven-day abstinence rate at six months was also higher in the intervention group (23.3 versus 12.9 percent in the control group; relative risk, 1.80).

"Policy makers should consider the emergency department as a location to deliver smoking cessation interventions as long as appropriate funding is available for dedicated staff," the authors write. "This study shows that it is possible to recruit efficiently and to deliver a brief opportunistic intervention to support sustained tobacco smoking abstinence in the emergency department setting."

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