Smoking and quitting with the aid of nicotine replacement therapies in theEnglish adult population - Results from the health education monitoring survey 1995

Background: Many clinical trials have shown the usefulness of nicotine repl acement therapies, family physician advice and other cessation aids in enha ncing smoking cessation. However, many trials have taken place amongst sele cted patients and doctors. This paper assesses cessation amongst a represen tative general adult population in England in order to see whether such aid s are as successful amongst more typical smokers. Methods: Descriptive info rmation on the pattern of smoking cessation aids use in the English populat ion is presented for the first time. This is followed by multivariate probi t analysis of the 'Health in England 1995' survey data set in order to pred ict successful smoking cessation as a function of several variables includi ng use of nicotine gum and patches, willpower, advice from family physician s, social class, education, gender, marital status and family composition. Results: The results tend to confirm that lower social class and lower educ ational achievement are linked to continuing smoking status. However, users of nicotine gum and patches were found to be less likely to have given up smoking than non-users. This may be explained by the fact that only those w ho find it difficult to give up will go to the time and expense of consider ing such aids. These findings could also be explained by the fact that gum and patches have only been available recently in England. The pattern of re sults also suggests that 'willpower' is a marker for success in cessation a s opposed to a determinant of giving up in its own right. Conclusion: This research confirms a lot of other research on the determinants of smoking ce ssation and has for the first time looked at the use and impact of nicotine replacement therapy on giving up in a representative English adult populat ion. More research is needed on observational data sets in order to tease o ut the true impact of nicotine replacement on cessation rates in representa tive smoking populations.