Intentions of smokers to use free nicotine replacement therapy
- PMID: 18625985
- PMCID: PMC2443226
- DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.071241
Intentions of smokers to use free nicotine replacement therapy
Abstract
Public health initiatives to distribute nicotine replacement therapy free of charge as a means of promoting smoking cessation are ongoing. Are there enough smokers interested in using nicotine replacement therapy to have a substantial impact on the prevalence of smoking if this aid were distributed free to all interested smokers? We conducted a telephone survey of 825 randomly selected daily smokers aged 18 years or older who had smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day at some point in their lives. Overall, 58.9% of the respondents said they would be interested in nicotine replacement therapy if it were offered for free. Of those interested, almost all (93.8%) said that they would use the nicotine replacement therapy to help them quit for good. There were differences in the levels of interest: smokers who intended to quit were more interested in using the nicotine replacement therapy than those who planned to reduce or maintain their smoking.
Comment in
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Pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.CMAJ. 2008 Jul 15;179(2):135-44. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.070256. CMAJ. 2008. PMID: 18625984 Free PMC article. Review.
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