Does smoking cessation improve health-related quality-of-life?

Abstract

This article examines whether smokers who enrolled in a community-based smoking cessation program and were successful in quitting for a six-month period had better health-related quality-of-life at six months relative to those who relapsed. An observational, longitudinal design was used; the sample included 350 participants 18-65 years of age. Health-related quality-of-life was measured using a broad array of indicators of physical and mental health. Six-month outcomes were compared between successful quitters and relapsers using analysis of covariance. Those who quit for six months had better psychological well-being, cognitivefunctioning, energy/fatigue, sleep adequacy, selfesteem, sense of mastery, and worse role functioning at six months than those who continued to smoke (p values > .05). No differences were observed in physical and social functioning, pain, or current health perceptions. There were no significant differences at enrollment in health-relatedquality-of-life between those who quit subsequently and those who relapsed, thus quality-of-life measures did not predict smoking status. We conclude that smokers who quit can possibly anticipate improvements in a range of mental health outcomes within six months, which could become an additional incentive to quit. Subsequent smoking cessation studies should include health-related quality-of-life measures to determine the generalizability of these findings.