Providing smokers with help to quit smoking during lung cancer screening is beneficial.
- In mainland France, more than three people aged 18-75 in ten say they smoke (31.8%) and a quarter smoke daily (24.5%).
- Smoking-related deaths could be reduced if people participating in lung cancer screening were given help to quit smoking, a new study suggests.
- “It is clear that lives can be saved by providing people with the opportunity to quit smoking with the help of a specialist while they are in a lung health monitoring unit,” said Dr Stuart Griffiths, of Yorkshire Cancer Research.
Smoking-related deaths could be reduced if people participating in lung cancer screening received help to quit smoking, according to a new study.
The research was led by Professor Rachael Murray and Professor Matthew Callister, in partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals and the University of Leeds.
Lung cancer: 323 people no longer smoked after four weeks
The researchers asked 2,150 people participating in a lung cancer screening program and reporting smoking to talk to a counselor specializing in stopping smoking.
89% of them accepted the offer, and 75% chose to benefit from ongoing weekly support. Men were less inclined to engage in this process. Acceptance of help was the same for all other characteristics, including age, ethnicity, or education level.
Overall, 323 people said they no longer smoked after four weeks (i.e. 15% of all people who participated in the screening and could benefit from help to stop smoking). 266 of them provided a breath sample showing that they had indeed stopped smoking.
Lung cancer: “adding smoking cessation assistance is a good thing”
Professor Murray said: “The high rate of use of smoking cessation aids and the promising quit rates observed across a range of demographic categories indicate that the addition of smoking cessation aids is a good thing.”
Dr Stuart Griffiths, from Yorkshire Cancer Research, also said: “There is no question that lives can be saved by providing people with the opportunity to quit smoking with the help of a specialist while they are in a lung health monitoring unit.”
After an unprecedented drop in daily smoking between 2016 and 2019 (from 29.4% to 24% in mainland France), prevalence has stabilized since 2019 in France. Tobacco thus remains the leading cause of avoidable mortality in our country with 75,000 attributable deaths in 2015, or 13% of deaths.
“In 2022, in mainland France, more than three people aged 18-75 in ten report smoking (31.8%) and a quarter smoke daily (24.5%). The increase observed among women between 2019 and 2021 does not seem to continue. Men smoke more than women (27.4% daily smoking, vs. 21.7%). indicates Santé Publique France in its latest report on the issue.
