English stop smoking services have helped 20,000 to quit, but much variation exists

Services have been successful, but local variation in performance requires attention

2013-08-21

(Press-News.org) Stop smoking services across England have had an increasing impact in helping smokers to quit in their first 10 years of operation and have successfully reached disadvantaged groups, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

However, performance across local services has varied considerably and requires attention, say the authors.

In 1998, the UK government established a network of stop smoking services to ensure that every smoker in the country who wanted help with stopping would have access to evidence-based support as well as medication.

Other countries have since followed this model for helping their smokers to stop.

Evidence indicates that, when these services are provided optimally, the proportion of users who stop for four weeks should be around 50%, with 15% lasting 12 months, compared with 15% at four weeks and less than 5% at 12 months if these smokers tried to stop unaided.

So a team led by Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology at University College London, set out to analyse the performance of the service over its first 10 years of operation.

Annual figures were obtained from April 2001 to March 2011 for number of quit dates set (throughput); percentage of biochemically verified abstinence after four weeks (four week quit rate); and the researchers then calculated, using previously published data, the number of four week quitters beyond those who would be estimated to have stopped with medication only (impact).

Information for each smoker including gender, age, ethnic group, type of medication used, and mode of delivery (one-to-one or group based sessions) was also recorded. Variability across local services in throughput, four week quit rates and impact was assessed for 2010/11.

Throughput rose from 227,335 in 2001/02 to 787,527 (8% of all smokers) in 2010/11. The percentage of four week quitters declined slightly from 35% to 34%, with a dip to 31% in 2007/08. This meant that, overall, the total number of four week quitters rose from 79,767 to 269,293.

Impact trebled from 22,933 four week quitters created in 2001/02 to 72,411 in 2010/11 (corresponding to an estimated 21,723 12 month quitters).

The services were also successful in reaching disadvantaged smokers with 54% receiving free prescriptions in 2010/11. However, substantial variation existed across local services in throughput, success rates, and impact.

In conclusion, the authors say that, over 10 years of operation, the English stop smoking services have increased their reach and impact threefold.

In 2010/11 they were used by some 8% of all smokers, including a high proportion of those with economic disadvantage, and can be estimated to have helped more than 20,000 to achieve long term abstinence, saving almost 25,000 life years.

However, they point to considerable variability in outcomes across local areas, which they say needs further investigation.

### END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Appetite hormone misfires in obese people

2013-08-21

Chevy Chase, MD—Glucagon, a hormone involved in regulating appetite, loses its ability to help obese people feel full after a meal, but it continues to suppress hunger pangs in people with type 1 diabetes, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). The primary role of glucagon, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, is to signal the body to release stored glucose when blood sugar falls too low. But growing evidence suggests the hormone also may play a role in controlling food intake ...

Gestational diabetes tied to 7-fold increase in sleep apnea risk

2013-08-21

Chevy Chase, MD—Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes are nearly seven times more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea than other pregnant women, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Gestational diabetes causes glucose levels in the bloodstream to rise above normal levels. This form of diabetes occurs during pregnancy, typically in the second trimester. Between four and eight of every 100 pregnant women in the United States develop gestational diabetes. The new study ...

Women who receive midwife care throughout their pregnancy and birth have better outcomes

2013-08-21

Maternity care that involves a midwife as the main care provider leads to better outcomes for most women, according to a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. Researchers found that women who received continued care throughout pregnancy and birth from a small group of midwives were less likely to give birth pre-term and required fewer interventions during labour and birth than when their care was shared between different obstetricians, GPs and midwives. In many countries, including the UK and Australia, midwives act as the main providers of care for women ...

Peering into the heart of aquatic embryo development

2013-08-21

Scientists using a pioneering bio-imaging system to record simultaneously the development of hundreds of aquatic embryos have discovered significant parent-offspring similarities in the timing and sequence of that development. Researchers at Plymouth University have found the timing of key developmental milestones – such as the first beating of the heart, formation of the eyes and movement – differs markedly between individuals in a species of aquatic snail, but also that these timings appear to be heritable, i.e. they are passed from mother to offspring. The study, made ...

Frontiers news briefs: August 20

2013-08-21

Frontiers in Plant Science Transgenic bacteria shed light on symbiotic exchanges within the soil Adding light-producing bacteria to soil can be a powerful method for tracking in real time how plant roots provide soil bacteria with carbohydrates, according to a new study in Frontiers in Plant Science. Soil bacteria rely for their growth on compounds released from plant roots in the form of excretions and sloughed-off cells, while bacteria often make scarce nutrients available to roots in exchange. For the first time, researchers from Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory ...

First pre-clinical gene therapy study to reverse Rett symptoms

2013-08-21

The concept behind gene therapy is simple: deliver a healthy gene to compensate for one that is mutated. New research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests this approach may eventually be a feasible option to treat Rett Syndrome, the most disabling of the autism spectrum disorders. Gail Mandel, Ph.D., a Howard Hughes Investigator at Oregon Health and Sciences University, led the study. The Rett Syndrome Research Trust, with generous support from the Rett Syndrome Research Trust UK and Rett Syndrome Research & Treatment Foundation, funded this work through ...

Honeyguide birds destroy own species' eggs to eliminate competition

2013-08-21

Like cuckoos, honeyguides are parasitic birds that lay their eggs in other birds' nests and dupe them into raising their young. Now scientists reveal that, unlike in cuckoos, the resemblance between honeyguide eggs and those of their bee-eater bird hosts hasn't evolved to trick hosts into accepting the imposter egg as one of their own. Rather, it appears to have evolved to trick other honeyguides who would otherwise destroy the eggs because of fierce competition for host nests. The new research is published today, 21 August, in the journal Biology Letters. Honeyguides ...

Study implicates dopamine in food restriction, drug abuse

2013-08-21

SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 20, 2013) — Scientists today reported a possible basis for why food-restricted animals show increased susceptibility to drugs of abuse. This association has puzzled researchers since it was first observed more than three decades ago. Senior author Michael Beckstead, Ph.D., from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, said the team found that dopamine neurons in a brain region called the substantia nigra fire bursts more than twice as frequently in chronically food-restricted mice. Cocaine significantly enhanced ...

Social giving makes us happier

2013-08-21

People usually feel good when they make a charitable donation, but they feel even better if they make the donation directly to someone they know or in a way that builds social connection. Research to be published in the International Journal of Happiness and Development investigates for the first time how social connection helps turn generous behavior into positive feelings on the part of the donor. Lara Aknin of Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Harvard Business School, Massachusetts, ...

3D graphene: Solar cells' new platinum?

2013-08-21

One of the most promising types of solar cells has a few drawbacks. A scientist at Michigan Technological University may have overcome one of them. Dye-sensitized solar cells are thin, flexible, easy to make and very good at turning sunshine into electricity. However, a key ingredient is one of the most expensive metals on the planet: platinum. While only small amounts are needed, at $1,500 an ounce, the cost of the silvery metal is still significant. Yun Hang Hu, the Charles and Caroll McArthur Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed a new, inexpensive ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

What can polymers teach us about curing Alzheimer's disease?

Lead-free alternative discovered for essential electronics component

BioCompNet: a deep learning workflow enabling automated body composition analysis toward precision management of cardiometabolic disorders

Nonlinear association between systemic immune-inflammation index and in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectio