Proportion of smokers and ex-smokers who quit or attempted to quit unassisted, as reported in Australian studies published January 2005 to December 2012
| Reference | Study details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design | Population | Study period | Study sample | Proportion of smokers or ex-smokers who quit or attempted to quit unassisted | Notes on definitions used in study | |
| Representative samples | ||||||
| Borland, 2012 (ITC study)30* | LT | General population, Australia | 2007–2008 | n=1775 (current smokers who attempted to quit in past year) | 55% did not use SSM or NRT when they attempted to quit | Type of SSM or NRT not specified |
| Cancer Institute NSW, 2012 (SHS 2011)45 | CS | General population, NSW | Mar 2011 | n=462 (current smoker who attempted to quit in the past 5 years) | 41% had not used varenicline, bupropion, NRT, quitline service or an online quit programme on their last quit attempt | |
| n=82 (ex-smoker who had quit in the past 5 years) | 65% had not used varenicline, bupropion, NRT, quitline service or an online quit programme on their final, successful quit attempt | |||||
| Cooper, 2011 (ITC study)31* | LT | General population, Australia | 2002–2009 | n=3094 observations from 1925 ex-smokers and current smokers from 7 waves of the study who had made a quit attempt in the past year† | 55% had not used ‘help’ when they quit or attempted to quit | Help was NRT patches, varenicline, bupropion, advice or information about quitting smoking from a quitline service, the internet, or a local stop-smoking service (such as clinics or specialists) |
| Hung, 2011 (CITTS 2007–2009)32 | CS | General population, NSW | Apr 2007–Dec 2009 | n=1097 (ex-smokers who had quit in the past 12 months) | 69% had used ‘cold turkey’ in the previous 12 months (but not necessarily on their final, successful quit attempt) | The alternative responses to cold turkey included prescribed medication, NRT products, advice from health professional (eg, GP, pharmacist or dentist) or quitline service, online quit info or quit programme, natural therapies, self-help materials |
| Kasza, 2012 (ITC study)17* | LT | General population, Australia, UK, USA, Canada‡ | 2006–2009 | n=4080 (current smokers, who smoked 10+ CPD, who had attempted to quit in the past year) | 58% had attempted to quit without using varenicline, bupropion, NRT gum/oral NRT, or NRT patches | |
| n=712 (ex-smokers, who smoked 10+ CPD, who had quit in the past year) | 54% had quit without using varenicline, bupropion, NRT gum/oral NRT, or NRT patches | |||||
| Convenience samples | ||||||
| AIHW, 2009 (SAND/BEACH programme 2009)46 | CS | Patients attending general practices, Australia | Feb–Mar 2009 | n=317 (ex-smokers and current smokers who had quit or attempted to quit in past 2 years) | 62% had used ‘cold turkey’ as a quitting method when quitting or trying to quit in the past 2 years | ‘Cold turkey’ was defined as ‘immediate cessation with no method of assistance’ |
| Bowman, 201247 | CS | Clients of methadone clinics, NSW | Not stated | n=46 (current smokers who had attempted to quit) | 87% had ‘not used any assistance on last quit attempt’ | No further detail given as to what ‘assistance’ meant |
| Bryant, 201148 | CS | Clients of SCSOs, NSW | Feb 2010–Oct 2010 | n=181 (current smokers who had attempted to quit) | 74% had used ‘cold turkey’ as a quitting strategy in the past | Not specified whether ‘cold turkey’ was defined to participants (ie, whether it meant ‘quitting on own’ and/or ‘quitting abruptly’) |
| Clark, 200844 | CS | Student nurses, Victoria | 2001 | n=79 (current smokers who had attempted to quit) | 82% had attempted to quit by ‘stopping abruptly’ on any previous quit attempt | The alternative responses to ‘stopping abruptly’ were ‘using NRT patches or NRT gum’ or ‘cutting down’ |
| n=82 (ex-smokers) | 78% had quit by ‘stopping abruptly’ on their final successful, quit attempt | |||||
| Doran, 2006 (BEACH programme 2003)34 | CS | Patients attending general practices, Australia | Feb–Mar 2002; Mar 2003 | n=672 (current smokers who had attempted to quit since Feb 2001) | 60% had used ‘cold turkey’ on their last quit attempt | ‘Cold turkey’ was ‘immediate cessation with no method of assistance’ |
| n=358 (ex-smokers who had quit since Feb 2001) | 75% had used ‘cold turkey’ on their final, successful quit attempt | |||||
| Walsh, 200643 | CS | General population, NSW | May–Jun 2000 | n=153 (current smokers who had attempted to quit in past 12 months) | 63% did not use ‘counselling, self-help materials and/or NRT’ on their longest quit attempt | |
| n=62 (ex-smokers who had quit in past 2 years) | 65% did not use ‘counselling, self-help materials and/or NRT’ on their final, successful quit attempt | |||||
*The three ITC studies report data from the same sample.
†The seven waves were partitioned into six pairs of survey waves, each comprising a baseline and follow-up survey; respondents were included if they were smoking daily at the baseline survey, were present at the follow-up survey and had made a quit attempt in the previous year.
‡Data reported are combined data for all four countries: Australia, USA, UK and Canada.
BEACH, Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health; CITTS, Cancer Institute New South Wales Tobacco Tracking Survey; CPD, cigarettes per day; CS, cross-sectional survey; ITC study, International Tobacco Control study; LT, longitudinal survey; NRT, nicotine replacement therapy; NSW, New South Wales; SCSO, social and community service organisations (non-government, not-for-profit organisations that provide welfare services to disadvantaged individuals); SHS, Smoking and Health Survey; SSM, stop-smoking medication.