Intervention for relapse to smoking: the Lung Health Study restart programs

Abstract

The Lung Health Study enrolled 3,923 participants in a smoking cessation intervention program, and followed them for 5 years. The study provided intensive group interventions for participants who had relapsed. The purpose of this analysis was to describe and evaluate these Restart programs. Among 1,004 relapsed participants, the percent not smoking at 5th year was higher for men who had used Restart (47) compared to those who had not (28), but not for women (42 vs. 33). Overall, there was equivocal evidence of the impact of the Restart programs due to limitations in the evaluation design. Because relapse is a common feature of efforts to quit smoking, relapse intervention programs need further study and more rigorous evaluation.