"Smoke-free" home helps smokers successfully quit

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers trying to kick the habit should implement a smoke-free policy at home, as new research suggests it may boost their odds of successfully stopping smoking.

Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, each year killing more than 440,000 Americans. Roughly 8.6 million people suffer with illnesses directly attributable to smoking, such as cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease. Two of every five smokers try to quit each year, but only 10 percent succeed.

Drs. Chung-won Lee and Jennifer Kahende of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at multiple factors associated with successful smoking cessation using data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey.

The study included 772 successful quitters, defined as smokers who quit for 7 to 24 months and had not relapsed, and 3,218 current smokers who tried to quit in the past 12 months but failed.

Lee and Kahende report in the latest issue of the American Journal of Public Health that the successful quitters were much more likely than the unsuccessful quitters to have a rule against smoking in their home.

"People who had a smoke-free home were 10 times as likely to be successful quitters as those who lived in a home where smoking took place," they report.

Successful quitters were also less likely to have switched to "light" cigarettes for health reasons, more likely to be 35 years of age or older, married or living with a partner, and to have a college degree. Non-Hispanic white individuals were also more apt to successfully kick the habit than those in other ethnic or racial groups.

These findings, the researchers say, point to the need for a "holistic" approach to smoking cessation -- one that includes smokers' family members, friends and colleagues in implementing smoke-free policies that support cessation."

The findings also confirm that workplace no-smoking policies do help those who intend to quit succeed. Having a no-smoking policy at work doubled the likelihood of successful cessation, Lee and Kahende found.

"Currently, 7 U.S. states have comprehensive smoke-free policies for most enclosed workplaces and public settings, including bars and restaurants," note the researchers.

"In one prominent success story, 10 years after passing a statewide smoke-free workplace law, California is experiencing a significant decrease in tobacco use among youths, is limiting exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for many of its citizens, and is helping many smokers to quit through its antismoking programs and policies," they point out.

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, August 2007.