EFFECTIVENESS OF POSTAL SMOKING CESSATION ADVICE - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL IN YOUNG MEN WITH REDUCED FEV1 AND ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

There have been few community-based randomized, controlled interventio n trials for cessation in high-risk smokers, In such a trial me evalua ted the effects of postal smoking cessation advice in smokers with asb estos exposure and/or reduced forced expiratory volume in one second ( FEV1). All men aged 30-45 yrs (n=22,392) living in 34 municipalities i n western Norway mere invited to a cross-sectional community survey, I nformation on smoking habits and occupational asbestos exposure mere o btained from self-administered questionnaires and measurements of FEV1 mere performed with dry-wedge bellow spirometers. Among 16,393 partic ipants we identified a group of 2,610 smokers with previous occupation al asbestos exposure and/or adjusted FEV1 in the lowest quartile. A ra ndom half (n=1,300) received a mailed personal letter from a respirato ry physician with a person-specific health advice to quit smoking and a pamphlet on smoking cessation, The remaining smokers (n=1,310) acted as controls and did not receive any information. Twelve months after the intervention, information on smoking habits mas re-examined using a postal questionnaire, Among the respondents (n=2,282), smoking cessa tion was reported altogether by 13.7% in the intervention group versus 9.9% in the control group (p<0.01). The 1 yr sustained quit rate (no smoking at all during the last year) was 5.6 versus 3.5% (p<0.05), res pectively. Measurements of carbon monoxide in expired air (with less t han or equal to 10 parts per million) confirmed self-reported nonsmoki ng in samples of the two groups. In a community this simple postal smo king cessation advice from a respiratory physician based on person-spe cific risk factors improved the 1 yr sustained success rate by 60% in identified high-risk smokers.