Briefly Noted

Abstract

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that primary care clinicians provide interventions, including education or brief counseling, to prevent initiation of tobacco use among school‐aged children and adolescents. However, there is not enough evidence to recommend tobacco‐cessation interventions in this population, according to the draft recommendation, released in June. The USPSTF is not part of the U.S. government, but its recommendations are taken into consideration by clinical and payer organizations. It only makes recommendations for interventions when it has found adequate evidence that the interventions do more good than harm. In the case of tobacco interventions, the task force found no evidence at all of harms of providing behavioral prevention interventions. However, once kids are already using nicotine, there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against cessation options. The recommendations were first published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and in Pediatrics in 2013; the final draft recommendations were issued in June, for public comment by July 22. For a link, go to https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/draft‐recommendation‐statement/tobacco‐and‐nicotine‐use‐prevention‐in‐children‐and‐adolescents‐primary‐care‐interventions.