Long-term smoking cessation rates in elderly versus other adult smokers: A 3-year follow-up study in Taiwan

Chiao-Lin Hsu,Kuang-Chieh Hsueh,Ming-Yueh Chou,Hsien-Chung Yu,Guang-Yuan Mar,Hong-Jhe Chen,Robert West

doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2018.07.001

Abstract

IntroductionSmoking cessation improves life expectancy at any age. There is some evidence that elderly smokers have at least as good a chance of successfully stopping as other smokers but direct comparisons with long-term follow up are rare. This study aimed to compare success rates up to 3 years in smokers aged 65+ versus other adult smokers with and without adjustment for a range of other smoker characteristics. MethodsThis was a prospective study of 1065 smokers who attended a stop-smoking clinic in Taiwan. Participants (896 < 65 years, 169 65+ years) were followed up by telephone 3, 6, 12 and 36 months after the initial quit date. Prolonged abstinence (abstinent at all follow-ups) and point prevalence abstinence (7 days prior to final follow up) were compared between ‘elderly’ participants aged 65+ years versus ‘non-elderly’ participants aged <65 years with and without adjustment for a range of baseline smoker characteristics (sex, educational level, previous quit attempts, cigarette dependence score). Non-responders were considered to be smoking. ResultsProlonged 36-month abstinence rates were 20.1% (N = 34) and 15.3% (N = 137) in the elderly and non-elderly participants respectively (p = 0.137). Point prevalence 36-month abstinence rates were 37.3% (N = 63) and 26.5% (N = 237) in the elderly and non-elderly participants respectively (p = 0.005). The odds ratios comparing elderly versus non-elderly abstinence rates after adjustment for baseline variables were 1.17 (95%CI = 0.75–1.83) and 1.52 (95%CI = 1.05–2.20) for prolonged abstinence and point prevalence abstinence respectively. ConclusionsElderly smokers attending smoker clinics in Taiwan appear to be at least as likely to achieve long-term abstinence as other adult smokers.

Highlights

Smoking cessation improves life expectancy at any age
We reanalysis the complete data treating missing as missing for 36 months 7-days abstinence rate and reveal abstinence rate are 55.3% (63) for elderly group and 40.2% (237) for non-elderly group, p value = 0.003, the 7-day point prevalence abstinence at 36 months still higher in elderly group than non-elderly group (Table 1)
The results suggest that elderly smokers potentially benefit at least as much from smoking cessation treatment as other smokers in terms of abstinence

Summary

Introduction

Smoking cessation improves life expectancy at any age. There is some evidence that elderly smokers have at least as good a chance of successfully stopping as other smokers but direct comparisons with long-term follow up are rare. The odds ratios comparing elderly versus non-elderly abstinence rates after adjustment for baseline variables were 1.17 (95%CI = 0.75–1.83) and 1.52 (95%CI = 1.05–2.20) for prolonged abstinence and point prevalence abstinence respectively. With aging populations in many countries, the impact of smoking cessation among the elderly is becoming increasingly important (Arai et al, 2012) This raises the question as to whether elderly smokers attending stopsmoking services differ from their younger counterparts in their chances of achieving long-term success at stopping. To address this question, we compared cessation rates 3 years after initial clinic attendance in smokers aged 65+ versus younger smokers. Age has been found to be a positive predictor of success at stopping in many countries (Vangeli, Stapleton, Smit, Borland, & West, 2011).

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