Longer Treatment Time Helps Struggling Smokers Quit

New research suggests patients who enter smoking cessation treatment but are unable to quit initially can achieve abstinence if given enough time, the Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 2.

Investigators at Oregon Health Science University followed more than 2,000 patients assigned to a 12-week smoking cessation program involving either drug therapy plus counseling or counseling alone. They found that 45% of patients who were unable to quit at the start of the program or who relapsed early on had achieved abstinence by the end of the program, regardless of the treatment they received. Further, these patients comprised one-third of the total participants who remained abstinent at one year.

These results “support continuing cessation treatments without interruption for smokers motivated to remain in the quitting process despite lack of success early in the treatment,” the authors concluded.

The study was published online in the journal Addiction.