Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness

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Sally Adams appraises and summarises the SCIMITAR pilot RCT, which investigates smoking cessation for people with severe mental ill health. The paper presents a highly promising bespoke intervention for smokers with bipolar disorder, psychosis or schizophrenia.

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The effect of smoke-free psychiatric hospitals on smoking behaviour: more evidence needed

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Olivia Maynard appraises a recent systematic review, which investigates the impact of smoke-free psychiatric hospitals on patients’ motivations to quit and smoking behaviour.

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Smoking cessation in the emergency setting

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Olivia Maynard summarises a systematic review of smoking cessation interventions in the emergency setting, which highlights the poor quality and heterogenous nature of the published trials in this field.

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E-cigarettes: a review of the evidence-base for regulation

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Sally Adams summarises a recent review of e-cigarettes, which looks at use, content, safety, effects on smokers and the potential for harm and benefit.

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Mood management can improve smoking cessation in patients with past and current depression

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There is a high rate of co-morbidity between depression and smoking; rates of smoking are approximately double in those with depression compared with the general population. In addition, smokers with depression tend to have higher rates of nicotine dependence, suffer greater negative affect during abstinence/withdrawal, are more likely to fail in quit attempts, and are [read the full story…]

Using adaptive treatments for smoking cessation may prove effective

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Around 20% of adults in the UK smoke cigarettes regularly. Smoking was the primary cause of approximately 462,900 hospital admissions and 79,100 (18%) deaths in adults over the age of 35 last year. Therefore, smoking cessation represents a serious (and costly!) clinical challenge on an individual and global level. Many smoking cessation aids are available, [read the full story…]

New Cochrane review finds that NRT, bupropion and varenicline are effective treatments for smoking cessation

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Smoking is the main preventable cause of premature illness and death worldwide. Approximately 20% of deaths in men and 5% in woman over 30 can be attributed to smoking. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 6 million people die from smoking related disease each year, with tobacco being the number one risk factor for [read the full story…]

Support for stopping smoking through a telephone quit line: a new trial

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Today’s blog comes courtesy of my friend and yours, the Lifestyle Elf: “Mr Watson, come here, I want you”. These are the first intelligble words transmitted over a telephone, by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant, back in 1876. Nowadays, any observer of ears in the street will see a large proportion attached to mobiles; [read the full story…]