COMMUNITY INTERVENTION TRIAL FOR SMOKING CESSATION (COMMIT) .2. CHANGES IN ADULT CIGARETTE-SMOKING PREVALENCE

Objectives. COMMIT (Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation ) investigated whether a community-level multichannel intervention wou ld decrease the prevalence of adult cigarette smoking and increase qui tting, with heavy smokers (greater than or equal to 25 cigarettes per day) receiving the highest priority. Methods. One community within eac h of 11 matched community pairs (10 in the United States, 1 in Canada) was randomly assigned to intervention. Baseline (1988) and final(1993 ) telephone surveys sampled households to determine prevalence of smok ing behavior. Results. Among the target population aged 25 to 64 years , there was no intervention effect on heavy smoking prevalence, which decreased by 2.9 percentage points in both intervention and comparison communities. Overall smoking prevalence decreased by 3.5 in intervent ion communities vs 3.2 in comparison communities, a difference not sta tistically significant, while the mean quit ratios were 0.198 versus 0 .185, respectively, a difference of 0.013 (90% test-based confidence i nterval = -0.003, 0.028). Conclusions. Results are consistent with the cohort analysis reported separately, although the more powerful cohor t design showed a statistically significant intervention effect upon l ight-to-moderate smokers. This community-based intervention did not ha ve a significant impact On smoking prevalence beyond the favorable sec ular trends. In future efforts, additional strategies should be incorp orated and rigorously evaluated.