The effect of a minimal contact smoking cessation programme in out-patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a pre-post-test study.
This study assessed the efficacy of an individual, minimal contact, smoking cessation programme in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, using a pre-post-test design. The study was part of a large ongoing investigation into the efficacy of self-management in patients with COPD (the COPE-study). In total, the participants received three 15-30 min home-based counselling sessions. Additionally, patients were provided with a written self-help manual. On the patient's request, the chest physician prescribed bupropion or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Cessation rates after nine months were based on self-report, and afterwards confirmed by salivary cotinine analysis. Patients were biochemically classified as smoker if their cotinine levels exceeded 20 ng/ml. At baseline, one third of the 269 patients in the COPE-study were active smokers (according to self-report). Almost 70% (n=64) of these patients were willing to participate in the smoking cessation program. After nine months follow-up, 23 (36.5%) patients self-reported abstinence. However, the cotinine validated abstinence rate was much lower: 12.7% (n=8), implying that the actual abstinence rate is severely overestimated by self-report in this study. The results suggest that the (validated) effectiveness of this intervention is probably in line with that of comparable programmes for "healthy" persons. However, considering the urgent need for quitting in COPD patients, a more intensive programme resulting in higher quit rates, seems to be required for this high-risk population.
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Medisch Spectrum Twente, P.O. Box 50000, 7500 KA Enschede, The Netherlands. e.monninkof@introweb.nl
Evelyn
E
Monninkhof
Paul
P
van der Valk
Job
J
van der Palen
Heleen
H
Mulder
Marcel
M
Pieterse
Cees
C
van Herwaarden
Gerhard
G
Zielhuis
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016642:Bupropion / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D015397:Program Evaluation; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012648:Self Care; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D016642:Bupropion; D003367:Cotinine