Smoking cessationA comparative, randomised study between management in general practice and the behavioural programme SmokEnders

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of two different stop smoking interventions. DESIGN: A randomised, controlled trial. Results based on intention to treat. SETTING: Three towns in the south-eastern part of Norway. INTERVENTIONS: Visits to GP for "practice as usual" (GP group) or participation in the behavioural programme SmokEnders (SE group) with follow-up 2 weeks, 2 months and 1 year after an agreed stopping date. SUBJECTS: 139 smokers recruited through open invitation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-reported smoking stop rate 2 weeks, 2 months and 1 year after an agreed stopping date, completed with biochemical indicators by the 1-year registration. RESULTS: Two weeks after the agreed cessation date, 10/70 (14%) of the GP group and 46/69 (67%) of the SE group had stopped smoking. After 2 months, 9/70 (13%) in the GP group and 37/69 (54%) in the SE group were non-smokers. One year after cessation 5/70 (7%) in the GP group and 21/69 (30%) in the SE group were non-smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Both interventions were effective as measured by the smoking cessation rate. However, the intervention in the SE group was considerably more effective than in the GP group, which suffered from a sizeable number of drop-outs.