Current developments in behavioral interventions for tobacco cessation.
OBJECTIVE
Tobacco use causes a significant amount of mortality and morbidity globally. The search for optimal cost-effective treatment interventions continues as current treatment modalities at best offer modest success in treatment outcome. This review evaluates current developments in behavioral interventions for tobacco cessation and their effectiveness.


RESULTS
Most studies of behavioral interventions reported moderate success in quitting tobacco at 6 months. This finding is seen across different professionals providing interventions in diverse settings using various modalities. Behavioral interventions in adolescents and pregnancy seem presently more effective than pharmacotherapy. Technology-driven interventions have gained recent popularity. Combining interventions shows promising results compared with a single intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
Most tobacco cessation intervention studies are from developed countries and for cigarette smoking. Long-term cessation still poses a challenge. Given the high global morbidity and mortality, there is a need to develop evidence-based, cost-effective intervention in developing countries for both smoking and smokeless tobacco use. Tobacco addiction produces neurobiological and behavioral change and optimal approaches involving behavioral methods and pharmacotherapy need to be developed.
Murthy
Pratima
P
De-Addiction Centre, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India. pratimamurthy@gmail.com
Subodh
Bhagyalakshmi N
BN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult