Telephone a Lifeline for Patients Attempting to Quit Smoking

New research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine indicates that not only is telephone counseling an effective tool for helping patients quit smoking, it’s also significantly more effective than clinician intervention. The study featured 837 daily smokers, 417 of whom received telephone counseling and had their smoking cessation medications sent to them by mail, and the other 420 of whom received clinician intervention as part of their regular health care. After 12 months the 6-month abstinence rate was only 4.1% in the group receiving routine care while it was 13% in the telephone-care group. Telephone-care patients were also more likely to take their smoking cessation medications and attend counseling programs. http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/166/5/536