Intensive telephone counseling nearly doubles quit rates when it is added to nicotine replacement therapy. Georgetown University Medical Center ran a trial of 818 long-term smokers aged 50 to 80. At three months, 14.3% had quit with phone counseling. Only 7.9% quit with nicotine replacement and usual advice.
Summary: Tobacco smoking causes many diseases. Lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and a weak immune system are just a few. The good news is that smoking rates have dropped over the last few decades. Lung cancer and many other smoking diseases have dropped with them. Still, smoking remains a big health problem. 12.5% of the population still smokes. So we need better ways to help people quit. Nicotine replacement therapy is one good way. But the new study shows it works almost twice as well when you add intensive phone counseling.
Smoking, mainly tobacco or cigarette smoking, does real harm. It can damage almost every organ in the body. So it is no surprise that about 16 million adults still live with a smoking-related illness, even as smoking rates fall. Smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, COPD, immune dysfunction, and more.
The good news is that people now see the risks of smoking. You can see it in the falling smoking rates. In the last couple of decades alone, millions have quit. Since 2005, the smoking rate has dropped from 20.9% to 12.5%. Lung cancer rates and cancer deaths have dropped significantly with it. Still, a lot of people keep smoking, so we must find ways to reduce smoking rates further.
Is smoking still a major health threat?
Want proof of how addictive cigarettes are? Smoking still kills close to half a million people in the US alone each year. The fight against tobacco is far from over. We need ways to help more and more people quit.
There are many ways to help people quit smoking today. One well-known way that works is nicotine chewing gum. The gum holds a small amount of nicotine to ease the craving for tobacco. The gum is still not good for you, but it helps.
In many cases, simple methods seem to work. Relaxation and plain reminders to quit both help. The new study shows that reminders over the phone may help too. Phone counseling seems to work best when paired with other tools, like nicotine replacement therapy.
Does telephone counseling help you quit smoking?
Georgetown University Medical Center recently ran a study on intensive phone counseling to help people quit smoking. The study stands out because it enrolled long-term smokers aged 50-80 years. It enrolled 818 habitual smokers. Some had been smoking for more than ten years.
The researchers split these people into two groups at random. One group got nicotine replacement therapy, like gum or patches, plus the usual health advice. The other group got intensive phone counseling plus nicotine replacement therapy.
The researchers were amazed. Quit rates doubled in the group with intensive phone counseling. With regular treatment and advice, 7.9% had quit after three months. With intensive telephone counseling, 14.3% had quit after three months.
At first, patients reported for themselves whether they had quit. Then the researchers checked whether patients were telling the truth. They used saliva strips that test for carbon monoxide. The true quit rates were a bit lower. But the phone counseling group still quit at twice the rate of the other group.
This study confirms that medical counseling and telemedicine addiction treatment help people quit smoking. You can buy nicotine patches and gum without a prescription. But this study shows quit rates run much higher when people get medical advice. That is why specialized clinics matter for people who want to quit.
Frequently asked questions
How many adults in the US still smoke?
About 12.5% of US adults still smoke, down from 20.9% in 2005. Millions have quit in the last couple of decades. Lung cancer rates have fallen with them. Even so, smoking still kills close to half a million people in the US each year. About 16 million adults live with a smoking-related illness.
Does nicotine gum help you quit smoking?
Yes, it helps. Nicotine gum holds a small amount of nicotine that eases the craving for tobacco. It is not harmless, because it still delivers nicotine. But it is one of the well-known ways to cut down or quit that work. It works better when paired with intensive phone counseling.
Were the quit rates in the Georgetown study confirmed?
Yes. Smokers first reported for themselves whether they had quit. The researchers then checked with saliva strips that measure carbon monoxide. The confirmed quit rates came out a little lower than the self-reports. But the group that got intensive phone counseling still quit at about twice the rate of the other group.
Do you need a doctor to quit smoking?
You can buy nicotine patches and gum without a prescription. But the Georgetown study shows that quit rates run much higher when people add counseling and medical advice to nicotine replacement. That is the case for working with a specialized clinic, including telemedicine addiction treatment. It beats trying to quit alone.
Related reading
Vaping doubles the risk of ED in men older than 20 years · Coffee and Cigarette Cravings · Quit Genius Raises $64 Million For Its Telehealth Startup · Drug Addiction Treatment, St. Louis