Health News
- Deep In The Brain May Lie The Secret Of Why Some Smokers Quit Easily And Some Find It Nearly Impossible
When a person tries to quit smoking, the cravings, headaches and lethargy that come from the nicotine withdrawal makes it near impossible for many to be successful. But this lack of success could also be a result of how a smoker's brain is wired,...
- Smokers Using Electronic Cigarettes Are Less Likely To Quit Smoking Than Those Who Don't Use The Devices, California Study Finds
The sudden increase in use of electronic cigarettes has prompted questions about whether they actually help people quit smoking. A study published online in the American Journal of Public Health found that individuals who use e-cigarettes are actually...
- Study Finds Electronic Cigarettes Help People Stop Smoking
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- Women Who Smoke Triple Their Risk Of Dying Early, But Quitting Early Enough Might Just Wipe Out That Risk
A new study of more than a million women found that smokers have more than triple the risk of early death than nonsmokers, and that quitting can virtually eliminate the increased risk. Smoking is still the most preventable cause of death in the United...
- State's Tobacco Quit Line Is Now Available To Users Aged 15-17
The state Tobacco Quit Line will now offer counseling services to Kentuckians aged 15 to 17 to help them give up cigarettes or other tobacco products. The line had been available only to people 18 and older. Public Health Commissioner William Hacker,...
Health News
Study finds personalized text messages helps some quit smoking
Smoking is a hard habit to break. A recent study, reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that sending smokers personalized text messages was twice as effective as giving them self-help materials, Valerie DeBenedette writes for Health Behavior News Service.
Participants chose a date to quit smoking and received five text messages during that day and two per day for the rest of the week. Then the text messages decreased to three per week, then to one per week. "Encouraging texts included top health reasons to quit smoking and the amount of money saved by quitting," DeBenedette writes.
"Previously, phone texting programs to help people quit smoking have been shown to be effective in other countries, said Lorien C. Abroms, Sc.D., the lead author of the study and associate professor of prevention and community health at The George Washington University. "This is the first long-term study in the United States."
More than 500 smokers were placed in one of two groups: the group that received text messages and the group that received self-help materials. They were then surveyed about their experience with the program one, three and six months afterward. Researchers tested mailed saliva samples for cotinine to determine if participants had stopped smoking.
Of those who received texts, 11.1 percent stayed off tobacco, compared to 5 percent in the control group. When asked to self-report, "nearly 20 percent of the texting group said they had quit, compared to 10 percent of the control group," DeBenedette writes.
Abroms said texting is cost-effective. Some programs offer it along with telephone counseling. "The potential for reach is wide, and they are fairly low cost compared to more traditional types of therapy," she said.
Chris Bostic, J.D., deputy director for policy at Action on Smoking and Health, an advocacy group in Washington, told DeBenedette, "Even if something like texting only has a marginal effect on the quit rate, it should be added to [the] menu of options available to smokers who want to quit." (Read more)
Participants chose a date to quit smoking and received five text messages during that day and two per day for the rest of the week. Then the text messages decreased to three per week, then to one per week. "Encouraging texts included top health reasons to quit smoking and the amount of money saved by quitting," DeBenedette writes.
"Previously, phone texting programs to help people quit smoking have been shown to be effective in other countries, said Lorien C. Abroms, Sc.D., the lead author of the study and associate professor of prevention and community health at The George Washington University. "This is the first long-term study in the United States."
More than 500 smokers were placed in one of two groups: the group that received text messages and the group that received self-help materials. They were then surveyed about their experience with the program one, three and six months afterward. Researchers tested mailed saliva samples for cotinine to determine if participants had stopped smoking.
Of those who received texts, 11.1 percent stayed off tobacco, compared to 5 percent in the control group. When asked to self-report, "nearly 20 percent of the texting group said they had quit, compared to 10 percent of the control group," DeBenedette writes.
Abroms said texting is cost-effective. Some programs offer it along with telephone counseling. "The potential for reach is wide, and they are fairly low cost compared to more traditional types of therapy," she said.
Chris Bostic, J.D., deputy director for policy at Action on Smoking and Health, an advocacy group in Washington, told DeBenedette, "Even if something like texting only has a marginal effect on the quit rate, it should be added to [the] menu of options available to smokers who want to quit." (Read more)
- Deep In The Brain May Lie The Secret Of Why Some Smokers Quit Easily And Some Find It Nearly Impossible
When a person tries to quit smoking, the cravings, headaches and lethargy that come from the nicotine withdrawal makes it near impossible for many to be successful. But this lack of success could also be a result of how a smoker's brain is wired,...
- Smokers Using Electronic Cigarettes Are Less Likely To Quit Smoking Than Those Who Don't Use The Devices, California Study Finds
The sudden increase in use of electronic cigarettes has prompted questions about whether they actually help people quit smoking. A study published online in the American Journal of Public Health found that individuals who use e-cigarettes are actually...
- Study Finds Electronic Cigarettes Help People Stop Smoking
A study has found that electronic cigarettes help people cut back on their use of tobacco, Christopher Ingraham reports for The Washington Post. The finding was part of a study published in the International Journal of Environmental...
- Women Who Smoke Triple Their Risk Of Dying Early, But Quitting Early Enough Might Just Wipe Out That Risk
A new study of more than a million women found that smokers have more than triple the risk of early death than nonsmokers, and that quitting can virtually eliminate the increased risk. Smoking is still the most preventable cause of death in the United...
- State's Tobacco Quit Line Is Now Available To Users Aged 15-17
The state Tobacco Quit Line will now offer counseling services to Kentuckians aged 15 to 17 to help them give up cigarettes or other tobacco products. The line had been available only to people 18 and older. Public Health Commissioner William Hacker,...