Smoking Cessation More Effective With Hands-on Program vs Brief Intervention

A recent study showed that a perioperative smoking cessation program that includes counseling, pharmacotherapy with varenicline, an educational pamphlet, and a fax referral to a quit hotline increases abstinence from smoking in the 12 months following surgery, compared with a brief intervention.

Previous studies have not assessed the efficacy of perioperative smoking cessation interventions with varenicline vs brief interventions. Therefore, the researchers sought to further evaluate and compare each method.
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In their study, the researchers evaluated 296 patients undergoing surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to either participate in a smoking cessation program, involving one 10- to 15-minute counseling session, pharmacotherapy with varenicline, an educational pamphlet, and a fax referral to a telephone quit hotline; or to receive brief advice and self-referral to a telephone quit hotline.

The researchers defined the primary outcome as the 7-day point prevalence (PP) abstinence at 12 months post-surgery and secondary outcomes as abstinence at 1, 3, and 6 months. Variables related to abstinence were identified via multivariable generalized linear regression.

Ultimately, the researchers found that participating in the smoking cessation group predicted abstinence from smoking at 12 months. Results showed that the 7-day PP abstinence was higher in the smoking cessation group (42.4%) vs the brief advice group (26.2%) at 12 months. The 7-day PP abstinence was also higher in the smoking cessation group vs the brief advice group at 1 month (45.7% vs 25.5%), 3 months (46.4% vs 26.9%), and 6 months (45.0% vs 26.2%).

“A perioperative smoking cessation program with counseling, pharmacotherapy with varenicline, an educational pamphlet, and a fax referral to a quitline increased abstinence from smoking 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery versus a brief intervention,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Wong J, Amir A, Riazi S, et al. A perioperative smoking cessation intervention with varenicline, counseling, and fax referral to a telephone quitline versus a brief intervention: a randomized controlled trial. Anesth Analg. 2017;125(2):571-579. doi:10.1213/ANE.0000000000001894.