SMOKING CESSATION RATES BY METHOD USED TO QUIT AT ONE YEAR AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING A SMOKING CESSATION CLINIC IN TURKEY

Tobacco is a public health problem in Turkey. We aimed to determine the smoking cessation rates by method used to quit among patients presenting to a smoking cessation clinic in Turkey. We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who presented to the study clinic from December 2010 to December 2011 and followed up each patient by phone call 1 year later to determine the smoking cessation rate by the method used to quit. All subjects were given behavioral modification motivatiion. The possible methods used to quit were: behavioral motivation, varenicline use, bupropion use and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). A total of 857 subjects were reviewed, 49.8% female. The average age of study subjects [+/- standard deviation (SD)] was 43.7 (+/- 11.4) years. The average age of smoking initiation was 17.5 (+/- 5.1) years (range:8-60 years). The average number of previous attempts to quit smoking was 2.1 (+/- 0.9) times (range: 1-3 times). Ninety-eight point eight percent of subjects had never received treatment to help them quit smoking. The overall 1 year smoking cessation rate was 34.3%. Of the 857 subjects, 12.7% received only behavioral motivation but no medical treatment, 12.0% were ordered medication but did not receive it, 31.6% received varenicline, 36.8% received bupropion, 5.6% received NRT and 0.1% received combination medical treatment. At one year the smoking cessation success rate for those who received only behavior motivation was 21.2%, for those who received varenicline was 35.8%, for those who received bupropion was 39.0% and for those who received NRT was 41.9%. The average length of treatment at the study clinic was 45.1 (+/- 25.3) days and the average number of the times the subjects visited the clinic was 2.3 (+/- 1.5) times (range:1-8 times). The best smoking cessation success rate was among those who received a combination of behavior motivation counselling and bupropion. Therefore, we recommend the combination as first line therapy for this patient population.