TITLE:
Smoking reduction did not promote future smoking cessation in a general population
AUTHORS:
Charlotta Pisinger, Mette Aadahl, Ulla Toft, Torben Jørgensen
KEYWORDS:
Smoking Cessation; Smoking Reduction; Tobacco Consumption
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.1 No.3,
November
17,
2011
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Smoking reduction (SR) has been introduced as a strategy for smokers who are unwilling or unable to quit. We wanted to investi tigate whether SR at one-year follow-up increased the probability of abstinence from smoking at three and five-year follow-up. Methods: we included a random sample from a general population, the Inter99 study, Copenhagen, Denmark. A total of 1975 participants were daily smokers (from both the intervention and the control group) with information on tobacco consumption at both baseline and one-year follow-up (year 1999 to 2001). Of these, 112 had reduced their tobacco consumption substantially, by minimum 50%, at one-year follow-up. Information on tobacco consumption and smoking status was available on 1441 and 1308 participants at three-year and five-year follow-up, respectively. Outcome was self-reported point abstinence at three and five-year follow-up. Logistic regression analyses were adjusted for confounders. Results: One out of five smokers (20.5%) had maintained their reduced tobacco consumption at five-year follow-up. About twice as many reducers as non-reducers reported that they had tried to quit since baseline (p