DOUBLE-BLIND, RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF CESSATION OF SMOKING AFTER AUDIOTAPE SUGGESTION DURING ANESTHESIA

We studied the use of intraoperative tape suggestion to improve the ra te of cessation of smoking in 363 smokers who wanted to stop smoking. They were allocated randomly to hear a taped message encouraging them to stop smoking or to a blank tape, played during general anaesthesia. Overall 56 patients (15.4%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 11.7-19.1%) had claimed to have stopped smoking at 2 months and 29 patients (8.0%, 95% CI 5.9-10.1%) were confirmed to have stopped smoking at 6 months. There was no significant difference between the groups at either 2 or 6 months (risk ratios 1.06 and 1.09, respectively, P = 0.78). A preop erative: postoperative ratio of a visual analogue scale measuring the patient's motivation to stop smoking was not significantly different ( control group 1.13 vs message group 1.10, P = 0.55). This study does n ot support the hypothesis that intraoperative tape suggestion can chan ge smoking behaviour.