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Guideline on Smoking Cessation Updated

The U.S. Public Health Service has revised its clinical practice guideline for treating tobacco addiction.

The update, the first since 2000, encourages doctors to make tobacco cessation using medication and counseling a priority for every patient who smokes. Among the changes in this edition of the guideline:

• Counseling adds significantly to the effectiveness of medications in smoking control, and the two together work better than either alone. Counseling also increases smoking cessation among adolescents.
  
• Telephone quitlines have broad reach and work with diverse populations.
  
• Seven medications are now available that increase the likelihood of long-term smoking abstinence — varenicline (Chantix); bupropion SR (Zyban); and nicotine delivered as gum, inhaler, lozenge, nasal spray, or patch.
  

LINK(S):

Helping Smokers Quit: A Guide for Clinicians (Free)

Updated Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence guideline (Free PDF)

JAMA commentary (Subscription required)

Published in Physician's First Watch May 8, 2008