Smoking Cessation News and Research

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New "reality" program will help those close to lung cancer victims quit smoking

Doctors in the U.S. have come up with a program which they hope will encourage the relatives and friends of lung cancer victims to quit smoking.

17 Jan 2006

Psychiatric patients who smoke

An editorial in the January 2006 issue of the Psychiatric Bulletin reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of gene-based smoking cessation packages, and asks whether they are appropriate for psychiatric patients.

10 Jan 2006

Smokers with a family history of lung cancer encouraged to undergo screening

To detect invasive lung cancer in its early stages, researchers urge current and former smokers who have a strong family history of the disease to take a lung function test and undergo screening with spiral computed tomography. The test is especially important should the previously diagnosed relative be young (around 50).

2 Jan 2006

Study reveals treatment and screening inequalities for patients with mental health problems

Patients with mental health problems may not be receiving the appropriate screening or treatments for illnesses including heart disease and stroke, a report from The University of Nottingham has shown.

7 Dec 2005

Physicians slow to prescribe newer heart drugs

An analysis of the treatment received by more than 100,000 heart patients has shown that physicians' prescription practices for drugs proven effective for treating heart disease has shown steady improvement over the past three years, cardiologists at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) have concluded.

7 Dec 2005

Hard to quit smoking even after cancer is diagnosed

According to a new study many people with cancer continue to smoke after their diagnosis, even though they are told that smoking can significantly compromise the outcome of any treatment.

29 Nov 2005

One-half of cancer patients continue to smoke after diagnosis

A pair of articles from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center makes the case that patients would receive better care if physicians and researchers would address the issue of tobacco use after a cancer diagnosis and monitor tobacco use during clinical trials that test new agents.

28 Nov 2005

Smoking cessation in cancer patients

A new report says despite a growing body of evidence that continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis has substantial adverse effects on treatment effectiveness, overall survival, risk of other cancers, and quality of life, up to one-half of cancer patients who smoke continue to do so or relapse after trying to quit.

28 Nov 2005

"Get With The Guidelines" programs improve care

After one year - Get With The GuidelinesSM programs used in hospitals significantly improved care for almost 30,000 coronary artery disease patients of all ages and sexes, according to research reported at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2005.

26 Nov 2005

New drug far more effective in stopping smokers lighting up

An experimental smoking cessation drug by Pfizer apparently gives smokers better odds at kicking the habit.

16 Nov 2005

Total smoking ban is accepted in New Zealand

The public has made significantly more enquiries to a national Quitline for smokers, and demand for nicotine replacement treatment vouchers has increased, following a total ban on smoking in indoor public places in New Zealand, according to a letter in this week's British Medical Journal.

13 Nov 2005

Smokeless tobacco products are not necessarily a safe alternative to smoking

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one-fourth of Americans are smokers. That's more than 60 million people who are at increased for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths nationwide.

3 Nov 2005

Women who smoke are more concerned about their habit and their ability to quit than men

In a new study presented at CHEST 2005, the 71st annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), the majority of smokers mistakenly believed nicotine causes cancer, leading many to smoke "light" cigarettes because they believed them to be less harmful.

3 Nov 2005

Computer-assisted instruction offers the potential to overcome knowledge barriers and improve screening rates

Even patients with minimal education and no computer skills can be successfully educated about health topics using computers, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

16 Oct 2005

Many people continue to smoke after life threatening event

An international survey published today (Thursday 6 October) in Europe's leading cardiology journal, European Heart Journal, reveals that fewer than half of the heart patients in the study who smoked quit after suffering their first coronary event, with one out of five continuing to smoke despite advice to stop.

5 Oct 2005

Nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence

Associate Professor Athina Markou, Ph.D., who is in the Scripps Research Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences Department at Scripps Research’s La Jolla Campus, and Paul Kenny, Ph.D., a former Research Associate in her laboratory, report in an upcoming issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology that nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence.

28 Sep 2005

Quality-improvement improves mortality in hospital

Heart attack death rates dropped significantly at hospitals that participated in a quality-improvement process that increased the use of evidence-based therapies, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

28 Sep 2005