Cochrane

Worldwide, between 80,000 and 100,000 young people start smoking every day and up to one in four UK and American young people smoke. Many adolescent tobacco programmes focus on preventing teenagers from starting to smoke, but some programmes have been aimed at helping those teenagers already smoking to quit. We identified 28 studies of mixed quality ...

People with depression are very often heavy smokers. We wanted to know whether treatments to help people quit smoking are effective for people with current depression or with a history of depression. In this review, treatments were divided into those with or without specific attention to handling depression. We found that smoking cessation treatments ...

Some people start smoking again shortly after quitting and are said to have 'relapsed'. Interventions used to help people avoid relapse usually focus on teaching the skills to cope with temptations to smoke. This approach and others have not been shown to be helpful, either for people who quit on their own or with the help of treatment, or for those ...

Background Most smokers want to quit, and may be helped by advice and support from healthcare professionals. Nurses are the largest healthcare workforce, and are involved in virtually all levels of health care. The main aim of this review was to determine if nursing-delivered interventions can help adult smokers to stop smoking. Study characteristics This ...

Background: People trying to quit smoking can be helped with medication or by face-to-face behavioural support such as counselling and group therapy. Objectives: We wanted to to find out whether support was also effective when it was provided by telephone. Search methods: The most recent search for evidence was in May 2013. We identified 77 controlled ...

More evidence is needed to determine if programmes delivered over the Internet can help people to stop smoking. This review found several trials reporting success rates for stopping smoking after six months or more. In combined results from three trials which were at risk of bias, Internet programmes that were interactive and tailored to individual ...

No evidence has been found to support the use of the electrocardiogram (ECG) for preventing cardiac arrhythmias in methadone-treated opioid dependents. A maintenance program with methadone is an effective treatment for people who are dependent on opioids, in terms of increased retention in treatment, reduced use of opioids, reduced human immunodeficiency ...

Mass media interventions involve communication through television, radio, newspapers, billboards, posters, leaflets or booklets, with the intention of encouraging smokers to stop, and of maintaining abstinence in non-smokers. It is likely that they contribute to a reduction in smoking when used as part of a complex set of interventions, but it is difficult ...

Opioid antagonists are a type of drug which blunts the effects of narcotics such as heroin and morphine, and might help reduce nicotine addiction by blocking some of the rewarding effects of smoking. Our review identified eight trials of naltrexone, a long-acting opioid antagonist. The trials included over 1200 smokers. Half the trials gave everyone ...

Opioid dependence is associated with public health and social problems. People injecting opioids are particularly at risk, not only because they become dependent faster than with other routes of administration but also because they are exposed to consequences such as an increased risk of overdose mortality, infective diseases and health issues. At least ...