[Long-term effectiveness of anti-smoking counseling in primary care: the relapse process].
BACKGROUND
Addiction to tobacco is the main cause of preventive morbidity, and so the fight against tobacco consumption is a priority in the developed world. Health advice is a valuable tool in this struggle and it is within the reach of all health workers. To study the long-term effectiveness of all anti-tobacco advice in Primary Aid, together with the influence that the reason for giving up (spontaneous or after advice) has upon the relapse pattern.


METHODS
We carried out a clinical test on 501 patients, 242 as a participant group, receiving health advice, and 259 in a control group. We evaluated giving up the habit through a survey. The data were analysed by means of a study with a survival study, considering the relapse to be the final point. Survival curves for the two groups were compared with the Lee-Desu statistic.


RESULTS
115 patients gave up the habit for at least 24 hours (31.8% from the participant and 14.7% from the control group). After 3 years, after a biochemical check-up, 4.5% of the participant group and 1.2% of the control group were still ex-smokers (difference = 3.3; p = 0.043%; there is a confidence interval of 95%: from 0.45 to 6.33). We did not find significant differences between their survival curves (p = 0.08).


CONCLUSIONS
We have been able to confirm the mid- to long-term effectiveness of anti-tobacco advice. We have not been able to demonstrate that anti-tobacco advice in the relapse pattern, but a statistical trend does exist towards a reduction in the participant group.
Comas Fuentes
A
A
Centro de Salud de Otero (Oviedo).
Suárez Gutiérrez
R
R
López González
M L
ML
Cueto Espinar
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data