Health behaviour change counselling in a dental setting

This meta-analysis claims to be the first evaluating mindfulness-based interventions in primary care.

Oral health professionals can play an important role in helping patients adopt good health behaviours. This review summarises 7 systematic reviews, finding that the strongest evidence is for smoking cessation and dietary interventions delivered by dental professionals.

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Varenicline and the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events and death

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Natasha Clarke publishes her debut Mental Elf blog about a new systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events associated with the smoking cessation drug varenicline.

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New evidence on the effects of plain cigarette packaging in Australia

Plain packaging was brought in by the Australian government in 2012

Olivia Maynard considers the implications of a host of new plain packaging research papers published last week in Tobacco Control. He blog focuses on a cohort study that looks at short-term changes in quitting-related cognitions and behaviours after the implementation of plain cigarette packaging with larger health warnings in Australia.

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Financial incentives for smoking cessation in pregnancy

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Meg Fluharty highlights a recent study suggesting that financial incentives may be beneficial in helping pregnant women quit smoking. This recent study investigated the effectiveness of shopping vouchers in addition to NHS Stop Smoking Services to aid quit attempts in pregnant women.

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Sustained smoking cessation intervention for hospitalised smokers

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Sally Adams summarises a new randomised controlled trial in JAMA, which tests a sustained care intervention and post-discharge smoking cessation for hospitalised smokers.

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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 and youth: are e-cigs encouraging more use of conventional cigarettes?

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Matt Field reviews the recent cross-sectional survey of e-cigarettes and conventional cigarette use in US adolescents, which found that E-Cig users were more likely to also smoke regular cigarettes than non-users. Does this mean that E-cigarettes encourage the use of conventional cigarettes?

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Cytisine and varenicline for smoking cessation

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Andrew Jones and Chris Sampson report on a systematic review and economic evaluation of cytisine and varenicline for smoking cessation, which finds that both drugs are clinically effective compared with placebo.

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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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New study estimates that UK smokers with mental illness cost the economy £2.34 billion

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This new study estimates that there are approximately 3 million smokers in the UK with mental illness, and the direct cost of treatment to the NHS in this population was £719 million in 2010. The total smoking-attributable costs for this group are estimated at £2.34 billion.

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