Effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions for inpatients during and post hospitalization period

Tobacco use continues to be a major public health problem despite of efforts to control.  When a smoker stops his habit, it brings substantial benefits in terms of reduced chances for developing diseases, improved health and savings. Majority of smokers admit that they want to quit the habit eventually. Admission to hospital provides an opportunity to help people stop smoking.  It is not clear which approaches to smoking cessation are the most effective in the hospital setting and which factors help them to be smoke free for long duration. Though there are studies in other countries, there are few such studies in Indian context. The proposed   study intends to evaluate the effectiveness of intensive intervention for smoking cessation among inpatients. Multi health providers like Physicians, nurses, counselors will be involved in the process of delivering the cessation service. A standardized module will be prepared for this. The primary outcome expected is the quit status of the smoker.  It will be assessed as 7 day point prevalence at six month follow up.

The secondary outcome is the reduction in the number of cigarettes. If the service is found to be effective, health care institutions can emulate this and policy can be framed to integrate smoking cessation as part of health care.

Primary aims

To assess the effectiveness of intensive counselling for smoking   cessation initiated in hospitalized patients as compared to   brief advice.

Secondary aims

• To find out the stage of change after 3 and 6 month follow up period in intervention and control group.
• To assess the   predictive factors for smoking cessation   in the study population.

Hypotheses

Intensive intervention including, after discharge follow up for a short period  viz 2 months for smoking cessation among hospitalized patients have better efficacy when compared to brief advice by doctors.