Article Text
Abstract
Objective To determine if Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking (AC) was superior to Quit.ie in a randomised clinical trial (RCT).
Setting Single centre, open RCT, general population based.
Participants 300 adult smokers, 18 years plus, minimum 5 cigarettes daily, and English speaking. AC, 151 (females 44.4%) and Quit.ie, 149 (females 45.6%), mean age 44 years. outcomes for all 300 were analysed (intention-to-treat). Recruited through advertisement from July 2015 to February 2016.
Intervention Randomly assigned to AC (n=151) and Quit.ie (n=149), matched for age, sex and education. Block randomisation, enrolment and follow-up at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Primary aim was to determine if AC had higher quit rates than Quit.ie service at 3 months. Secondary aims: quit rates at 1, 6 and 12 months and analysis of associated factors including weight. AC consisted of a 5-hour seminar, in a group setting. Quit.ie is an online portal for smoking cessation.
Results AC had higher quit rates at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. AC: 38%, (n=57), 27% (n=40), 23% (n=35), 22% (n=33) vs Quit.ie: 20% (n=30), 15% (n=22), 15% (n=23), 11% (n=17), respectively (all p values <0.05). Logistic regression AC vs Quit.ie, OR 2.26 (95% CI 1.22 to 4.21) p value=0.01. Weight gain 3.8 kg in AC vs 1.8 kg in Quit.ie (p value <0.05).
Conclusions All AC quit rates were superior to Quit.ie, outcomes were comparable with established interventions.
Trial registration number ISRCTN12951013. Recruitment July 2015–February 2016.
- Cessation
- Addiction
- Health Services
- Nicotine
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Footnotes
Contributors LC conceived the study. SK and LC designed the study and were responsible for the conduct of the study. SK was mainly responsible for the conduct of the trial with LC as principal investigator. SL and SK did the literature search and were involved in analysis of the data. SK drafted the first version of the manuscript with input from LC. LC and SL had input into all redrafts. All authors read and approved the final version.
Funding DOH Ireland Grant: NL14/1.
Competing interests LC was involved in the Cease of NRT conducted on behalf of the ERS by the Occupational and Epidemiology Assembly and with the sponsorship of Pharmacia & Upjohn, Helsingborg, Sweden. He has served on advisory Boards for Pfizer and has in the past received research grants from Pfizer for Tobacco Control projects but none for smoking cessation. SK and SL declare no competing interest.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval Dublin Institute of Technology, Research Ethics Committee: Ethical Clearance Ref 14-94.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement The authors are open to data sharing of de-identified data collected at all follow-up visits from both conditions. Application with rationale may be made to corresponding author at lclancy@tri.ie or skeogan@tri.ie.