Effectiveness of a Health Professional Training Program for Treatment of Tobacco Addiction.

Nicotine Tob Res. 2013 Apr 1;
Olano-Espinosa E, Matilla-Pardo B, Minué C, Antón E, Gómez-Gascón T, Ayesta FJ

INTRODUCTION: Advice can have a small but clinically important effect in promoting smoking cessation. Where studied, the rate of delivery has been found to be low. Training has been found to increases this rates, but there is little research on effectiveness in terms of smoking cessation rates. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an health professionals educational program to increase long-term rates of nicotine abstinence in smoking outpatients. METHODS: We conducted a pragmatic cluster-randomized, controlled trial in 35 primary health care centers in Spain. Participants were all 830 health professionals who attended 5,970 smokers during recruiting period. After that we measured continuous abstinence 6 months after the intervention and biochemically validated (saliva cotinine test) 1 year following intervention. Cost-effectiveness was measured in terms of cost per life year gained. RESULTS: After 6 months, the rate of continuous abstinence was significantly higher in the intervention group (2.1% vs. 0.3%, p > .0001) with an odds ratio of 6.5 (95% CI… Continue reading →