After three months in the study, 39.6 percent of the telephone care group had not smoked in the previous seven days, compared with 10.1 percent of the standard care group. At the one-year mark, 13 percent of the telephone care group and 4.1 percent of the control group had abstained from smoking for the previous six months. Compared with those in the standard care group, individuals receiving telephone care were more likely to use other techniques to help them stop smoking, including smoking cessation counseling programs (97.1 vs. 24 percent after one year) and medications (89.6 vs. 52.3 percent after one year). They also made more attempts to quit than those in the control group.

"At a minimum, telephone care for smoking cessation should be made available to veterans who are interested in stopping smoking," the authors conclude. "The findings of this study lend additional support to the recommendation for a national network of quitlines that would make these services available to all tobacco users in this country."

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Contact: Sara Buss
612-624-2449
JAMA and Archives Journals
13-Mar-2006