Simply urging a heavy smoker to quit is never enough, but perhaps offering them help in kicking the habit for free will help.
That's the idea behind a Wisconsin plan to offer smokers free help to quit smoking as researchers attempt to zero in on the most effective approach to help people quit smoking.
The idea is part of what researchers are calling a "real world" study, being conducted by the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI), to find the most effective methods to help those addicted to tobacco kick the habit.
The UW-CTRI is operating the plan with the aid of a $12 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. While researchers state they are aware that counseling and medication work, they are hoping to find out exactly how much of each works best, and perhaps even more important, how to easily deliver that treatment in a systematic way at health care clinics.
"We already know from prior research that counseling and medication are the two foundation stones to helping smokers quit," explained Michael Fiore, a UW-Madison professor of medicine expert on tobacco who founded the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. "Yet, we know very little about the type of counseling (the specific counseling messages that are most effective) or how to administer it (in person, by phone, via smartphone messages)."
Researchers for the first time also will study how to help smokers who have quit, but relapsed, return to successful quitting. All this in the name of slowing down the increasing rate of lung cancer deaths in the U.S.
According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer causes more deaths than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and pancreatic). An estimated 159,260 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer in 2014, accounting for approximately 27 percent of all cancer deaths.
Nationally, about 18% of adults smoke, and 90% of those who smoke by age 20 become addicted to tobacco.
"It's helpful for a doctor to urge a patient to quit, but it's not enough," added Fiore. "Smoking in 2014 is not just a bad habit, it's a powerful addiction that often requires intensive treatment."
