The Basics
Around 80% of quitters try to quit on their own with no help, but research shows that just 3-5% of such quitters are still smoke-free a year later. Most don’t even make it a week.
Is using a quit aid much better? Of the 20% of quitters that use the patch, gum or some other method, how many successfully quit? This information can be harder to uncover than you might think.
Have you ever noticed how quit smoking websites almost NEVER quote success rates? Have you ever wondered why that is? Is it that their success rates are unknown, or is there some other explanation?
Well, the research has been done – there’s no doubt about that. According to Cochrane’s Review of Abstracts, an independent website that looks at evidence in medicine, there have been:
- 24 trials of acupuncture for quitting smoking
- 53 trials of antidepressants (mostly Zyban or Wellbutrin)
- 9 trials of hypnosis
- 132 trials of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (patch, gum, lozenge etc.) and
- 3 Chantix / Champix trials.
This is a full list of all of the quit smoking methods covered by their research.
As you can see, there is plenty of data available; the question is why isn’t it quoted? Why won’t a nicotine patch manufacturer give smokers the success rate for using their product? Is there something to hide? Let’s take a closer look...
Next...understanding success rates >>