Abstract

Objective: To assess the degree to which smokers living with a full household ban on smoking change their cessation related behaviour.

Design, setting, and participants: Prospective cohort study; follow up of a population based cohort of 1133 smokers, identified from a 1997 telephone survey of adult Oregonians. After a median of 21 months, 565 were located and reinterviewed.

Main outcome measures: Quit attempts, time until relapse, and smoking cessation, defined as seven day and 90 day sustained abstinence at follow up.

Results: A full ban at baseline was associated with a doubling of the odds of a subsequent quit attempt (odds ratio (OR)  =  2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0 to 3.9). Among respondents in the preparation stage at baseline (intention to quit in the next month with a quit attempt in the previous year), a full ban was associated with a lower relapse rate (hazard ratio  =  0.5 (95% CI, 0.2 to 0.9)), while for those in precontemplation/contemplation (no intention to quit or intention to quit within the next six months, respectively), there was no significant association between full ban and relapse rate. For respondents in preparation, those with a full ban had over four times the odds of being in cessation for seven or more days before the follow up call (OR  =  4.4 (1.1 to 18.7)), but for those in precontemplation/contemplation, full bans were unrelated to cessation.

Conclusions: Full household bans may facilitate cessation among smokers who are preparing to quit by increasing quit attempts. They may also prolong time to relapse among those smokers.