Receiving support to quit smoking and quit attempts among smokers with and without smoking related diseases: Findings from the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

Abstract

Introduction: Having a chronic disease either caused or worsened by tobacco smoking does not always translate into quitting smoking. Although smoking cessation is one of the most cost-effective medical interventions, it remains poorly implemented in healthcare settings. The aim was to examine whether smokers with chronic and respiratory diseases were more likely to receive support to quit smoking by a healthcare provider or make a quit attempt than smokers without these diseases.

Methods: This population-based study included a sample of 6011 adult smokers in six European countries. The participants were interviewed face-to-face and asked questions on sociodemographic characteristics, current diagnoses for chronic diseases, healthcare visits in the last 12 months and, if so, whether they had received any support to quit smoking. Questions on smoking behavior included nicotine dependence, motivation to quit smoking and quit attempts in the last 12 months. The results are presented as weighted percentages with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and as adjusted odds ratios with 95% CI based on logistic regression analyses.

Results: Smokers with chronic respiratory disease, those aged 55 years and older, as well as those with one or more chronic diseases were more likely to receive smoking cessation advice from a healthcare professional. Making a quit attempt in the last year was related to younger age, high educational level, higher motivation to quit, lower nicotine dependence and having received advice to quit from a healthcare professional but not with having chronic diseases. There were significant differences between countries with smokers in Romania consistently reporting more support to quit as well as quit attempts.

Conclusions: Although smokers with respiratory disease did indeed receive smoking cessation support more often than smokers without disease, many smokers did not receive any advice or support to quit during a healthcare visit.

Keywords: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD); chronic disease; quitting smoking; smoking cessation; tobacco smoking.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. A Lindberg reports personal fees from Boehringer-Ingelheim, from AstraZeneca, from Novartis, and from Active Care, outside the submitted work. G Rohde reports personal fees from Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Solvay, GSK, Essex Pharma, MSD, Grifols, Chiesi, Vertex, Berlin Chemie, Astra-Zeneca, Bayer, Roche and Novartis for lectures including service on speakers’ bureaus outside the submitted work and/or consultancy during advisory board meetings and personal fees from GSK for travel accommodation/meeting expenses, outside the submitted work. K Przewoźniak reports grants and personal fees from Polska Liga Walki Z Rakiem (Polish League Against Cancer) outside the submitted work. CI Vardavas reports that he is the Strategic Development Editor of TID and that there are no conflicts of interest with this current work. The rest of the authors have also completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.