ASSESSMENT OF A NEW SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAM AT THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, PATHUM THANI, THAILAND.
Pattarin PirompanichTawanchai JirapramukpitakNarongkorn SaiphoklangThiti SricharoenchaiPichayapa RuchiwitNarit SennoiApichart KanitsapPublished in: The Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health (2018)
The Smoking Cessation Clinic (SCC) at Thammasat University Hospital
had only 27 patients from October 2013 to September 2014 and a quit rate of only
3.7%. A new smoking cessation program was implemented at the end of 2014 to
improve success rates. This new program is an interdisciplinary program that
includes several health care specialists. The study aimed to examine the characteristics
of the smokers and the outcomes after implementing the new program
with an interdisciplinary approach at the SCC in order to gain data to improve
the efficacy of the SCC. This prospective descriptive study was conducted by the
SCC from December 2014 to December 2015. During the study period 111 patients
attended the SCC under the new program and all were included in the survey;
100 (90.1%) were men. The mean (±SD) age of these patients was 56.5±13.5 years.
The mean (±SD) age of onset of smoking was 18.5±5.5 years. Smoking cessation
in the program was checked by measuring the exhaled carbon monoxide levels at
6 months after reporting smoking cessation. A level less than 10 parts per million
was considered not to be a smoker. Of the 111 patients, 14 (12.6%) had reported
smoking cessation and had an exhaled carbon monoxide level less than 10 parts per
million. The new smoking cessation program was attended by more patients and
had a higher success rate than the previous smoking cessation program, although
the smoking cessation success rate was still low. Further studies are needed to
determine which factors improved cessation rates and to determine other factors
associated with successful smoking cessation in the study population.