Is telephone counselling a useful addition to physician advice and nicotine replacement therapy in helping patients to stop smoking? A randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
The authors evaluated the incremental efficacy of telephone counselling by a nurse in addition to physician advice and nicotine replacement therapy in helping patients to stop smoking.


METHODS
The trial was conducted at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. A total of 396 volunteers who smoked 15 or more cigarettes daily were randomly assigned to either of 2 groups: usual care (control group) and usual care plus telephone counselling (intervention group); the groups were stratified by sex and degree of nicotine dependence. Usual care involved the receipt of physician advice on 3 occasions, self-help materials and 12 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy. Telephone counselling was provided by a nurse at 2, 6 and 13 weeks after the target quit date. Point-prevalent quit rates were determined at 52 weeks after the target quit date.


RESULTS
The point-prevalent quit rates at 52 weeks did not differ significantly between the control and intervention groups (24.1% v. 23.4% respectively). The quit rates did not differ significantly at the secondary measurement points of 4, 12 and 26 weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
Brief physician assistance, along with nicotine replacement therapy, can help well-motivated smokers to quit. Three additional sessions of telephone counselling by a nurse were ineffective in increasing quit rates. This form of assistance may be useful in the absence of physician advice or when self-selected by patients.
Reid
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RD
Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ont. breid@ottawaheart.ca
Pipe
A
A
Dafoe
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WA
D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009726:Nurses; D009864:Ontario; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D013689:Telephone; D013997:Time Factors
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine