title: Validation of Non-Smoking Status by Spouse Following a Cessation Intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Following cessation interventions, self-reported smoking abstinence with biochemical verification is the "gold standard" for defining outcomes. Because obtaining biochemical verification is challenging in community studies, we compared self-reported cessation among smokers completing treatment to the smoking status reported by each participant's spouse or proxy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were smokers who had reported quitting 12 months after a cessation intervention. Participants had either attended a smoking cessation clinic or they were patients seen by physicians who had recently participated in a cessation-training program. Proxies living with these participants were interviewed by telephone to ask about their partner's smoking status. We compared the participants' responses to those from their spouses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 12 months, 346 of 1423 baseline smokers had quit; 161/346 reported non-smokers were called and 140 proxies were interviewed. The participants averaged 51 years of age, 69% were women. At baseline, the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 20.1 (SD = 9.9) and the average number of quit attempts was 2.4 (SD = 1.2). Cessation methods used were medical advice (21%) and/or pharmacotherapy (79%). Of the 140 spouses interviewed, only 10 (7.1%) reported that their partners were currently smoking.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proxy-reported data on smoking status could be used to validate self-report.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Programa de Medicina Interna General, Hospital de Clinicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Raul M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Mejia
authors.affiliation: Programa de Medicina Interna General, Hospital de Clinicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gregorich
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Eliseo J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Pérez-Stable