title: How confident should we be that smoking cessation treatments work?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine (i) the concordance among recent meta-analyses about which treatments for smoking cessation are efficacious; (ii) the similarity of odds ratios (ORs) across meta-analyses; and (iii) among the validated treatments, the proportion of studies that found higher quit rates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Computerized literature search for meta-analyses during the last 5 years in PubMed and PsychInfo. Data were extracted from summary tables of overall effect of validated treatments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen meta-analyses agreed 100% on the presence/absence of efficacy of 17 proven treatments. The ORs differed by <0.5 in 72/76 of the comparisons of meta-analyses. Among 37 comparisons in 33 comparisons, >85% of the studies reported numerical superiority for the active treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The efficacy of treatments for smoking cessation are extremely reliable. This argues for inclusion of treatment as an essential feature of tobacco control and clinical practice and argues for reimbursement of smoking cessation treatments on a par with other medical and behavioral disorders.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Family Practice, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. john.hughes@uvm.edu
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D016896:Treatment Outcome
references.citation: BMJ. 2005 Aug 20;331(7514):433-4
references.pmid: 15937056
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(3):CD000058
references.pmid: 15266422
references.citation: Addiction. 2008 Aug;103(8):1371-8
references.pmid: 18855827
references.citation: CMAJ. 1997 May 15;156(10):1411-6
references.pmid: 9164400
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3):CD002850
references.pmid: 16855992
references.citation: JAMA. 2007 Nov 7;298(17):2057-9
references.pmid: 17986700
references.citation: Nicotine Tob Res. 2006 Dec;8(6):739-49
references.pmid: 17132521
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(3):CD001745
references.pmid: 12137631
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD000146
references.pmid: 18253970
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(3):CD000546
references.pmid: 15266433
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jul 16;(3):CD006103
references.pmid: 18646137
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jan 24;(1):CD004493
references.pmid: 17253511
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Apr 18;(2):CD001007
references.pmid: 15846610
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD000165
references.pmid: 18425860
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003;(1):CD001291
references.pmid: 12535406
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2004 Jun;26(5):391-401
references.pmid: 15165655
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3):CD001293
references.pmid: 16855966
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Jan 25;(1):CD001497
references.pmid: 15674880
references.citation: Ann Intern Med. 2000 Sep 19;133(6):455-63
references.pmid: 10975964
references.citation: Addiction. 2007 May;102(5):815-22
references.pmid: 17493109
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(3):CD001294
references.pmid: 10908490
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Jul 20;(3):CD001118
references.pmid: 16034855
references.citation: Health Educ Res. 2006 Jun;21(3):416-27
references.pmid: 16740673
references.citation: Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2008;34(4):449-61
references.pmid: 18584575
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2007 May;32(5):449-50
references.pmid: 17478272
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD004704
references.pmid: 18254058
references.citation: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004 Dec;13(12):2012-22
references.pmid: 15598756
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 2004 Feb;94(2):205-10
references.pmid: 14759928
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Apr 18;(2):CD001292
references.pmid: 15846616
references.citation: CMAJ. 2008 Jul 15;179(2):135-44
references.pmid: 18625984
references.citation: Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2007 Dec 1;64(23):2471-6
references.pmid: 18029953
references.citation: Tob Control. 2003 Mar;12(1):21-7
references.pmid: 12612357
references.citation: BMC Public Health. 2006 Dec 11;6:300
references.pmid: 17156479
references.citation: Pol Arch Med Wewn. 2007 Nov-Dec;117(11-12):504-11
references.pmid: 18363250
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD001188
references.pmid: 18253987
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD001006
references.pmid: 10796581
references.citation: Addiction. 2005 Mar;100(3):317-26
references.pmid: 15733245
references.citation: Clin Ther. 2008 May;30(5):800-12
references.pmid: 18555928
references.citation: Pol Arch Med Wewn. 2008 Jan-Feb;118(1-2):20-8
references.pmid: 18405169
references.citation: Heart Lung. 2006 May-Jun;35(3):147-63
references.pmid: 16701109
references.citation: Tob Control. 2006 Aug;15(4):280-5
references.pmid: 16885576
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jan 24;(1):CD000031
references.pmid: 17253443