Free nicotine patch giveaway program 12-month follow-up of participants.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the effectiveness of a free nicotine patch giveaway program offered to New York City (NYC) smokers conducted in 2003.


METHODS
The effectiveness of the program was assessed by contrasting the 12-month quit rate of program participants with the quit rate from a group of Quitline callers who were not offered free nicotine patches. The follow-up surveys were conducted in 2004 and the analysis in 2005.


RESULTS
The 7-day nonsmoking prevalence rate measured at 12 months among callers who received the nicotine patches was 1.78 times higher (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19-2.66) than the quit rate among a comparable group of callers to the Quitline from NYC a year earlier who did not receive nicotine patches.


CONCLUSIONS
The provision of free nicotine patches through a telephone quitline was effective in inducing a large number of smokers to make a quit attempt and stop smoking, above and beyond the efficacy of the quitline support alone.
Cummings
K Michael
KM
Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263, USA. Micheal.cummings@roswellpark.org
Hyland
Andrew
A
Fix
Brian
B
Bauer
Ursula
U
Celestino
Paula
P
Carlin-Menter
Shannon
S
Miller
Nancy
N
Frieden
Thomas R
TR
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics*; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015995:Prevalence; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*
D009538:Nicotine