Smoking cessation aids and strategies among former smokers in Canada.
OBJECTIVE
There is a need to better understand the prevalence of use of pharmaceutical aids among former smokers, and explore concerns that those former smokers may have had about using such products. This paper examines the use of various cessation aids and strategies as well as reasons for not using cessation aids among a nationally representative sample of former smokers from Canada.


METHODS
Using data from the 2006 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS), univariate analyses were performed to examine the use of different cessation aids, strategies to quit smoking, and reasons for not using cessation aids among former smokers who had quit in the previous two years.


RESULTS
In 2006, over one in four Canadians (27.1% or about 7.2 million persons) aged 15 and older was a former smoker. Overall, female former smokers were more likely to report that they reduced their consumption of cigarettes as a quitting strategy, whereas male former smokers were more likely to report using a pharmacological aids when quitting. Among reasons given for not using cessation aids, lack of trust that these products would work was the most common (15.4%), following by issue of cost (8.5%), concern about possible side effects (5.8%) and lack of information about products (1.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that men and women use different approaches to quit smoking. Our findings provide new insight which could be used to target cessation programs to the individuals where they are most likely to be effective.
Ismailov
Rovshan M
RM
Department of Population Studies and Surveillance, Cancer Care Ontario, Canada.
Leatherdale
Scott T
ST
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000628:therapy*; D002170:Canada; D002638:Chewing Gum / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
D002638:Chewing Gum; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine