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Evidence summaries

Nursing Interventions for Smoking Cessation

Nursing interventions appear to be effective in smoking cessation. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 58 studies. A nursing intervention compared to a control or to usual care was found to increase the likelihood of quitting (RR 1.29; 95% CI 1.21 to 1.38, 35 studies, over 22 000 participants; high heterogeneity, I²=50%). In a subgroup analysis there was no evidence that high-intensity interventions or interventions with additional follow-up were more effective than lower intensity or interventions with additional follow-up.

Another Cochrane review [Abstract] 2 included 81 studies. Provision of adjunctive counselling by a health professional other than the physician (RR 1.31, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.55; I² = 44%; 22 studies, n=18150) increased smoking abstinence at 6 months in primary care.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgradedby limitations in study quality (unclear allocation concealment and incomplete outcome data in half of the studies).

References

  • Rice VH, Heath L, Livingstone-Banks J et al. Nursing interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2017;(12):CD001188. [PubMed]
  • Lindson N, Pritchard G, Hong B et al. Strategies to improve smoking cessation rates in primary care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2021;(9):CD011556. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords