Epidemiology in the News
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Epidemiology in the News
Purpose Study
The purpose of the review was to examine the role of pharmacotherapy and behavioral support to boost smoking cessation success. According to Stead et al. (2016), the review was seeking to establish whether combining the two approaches or using one method to address smoking behavior is effective.
Population
The population was people who smoke excluding pregnant women and adolescents. The population was drawn from community and healthcare settings. According to Stead et al. (2016) participants were not selected on their suitability for pharmacotherapy or desire to quit smoking. A total of 25,000 participants from three studies met the inclusion criteria.
Length of the Trial
The review of the studies was carried for at least six months of follow up. According to Stead et al. (2016), the studies reported the people who stopped smoking for at least six months. The review excluded people who did not meet the six months threshold since the start of the intervention.
Data Collection Methods
The studies included in the review were prescreened by one author and agreed upon by two authors. Data from the studies was extracted by one scholar and approved by another author. A search was made in various scholarly databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (Stead et al., 2016). The studies identified from the various databases were screened for inclusion.
Outcome Measures
The main outcome of the study was smoking cessation among the study participants. Studies focused on individuals who quit smoking for at least six months. The outcome measures show that pharmacotherapy and behavioral support boost smoking cessation success (Stead et al., 2016). A combination of the two approaches is effective compared to using one method to address smoking behavior.
Results and Conclusions
The results of the study demonstrate that pharmacotherapy and behavioral support boost smoking cessation success. The findings of the study are consistent with other results across diverse studies among people with smoking behavior (Stead et al., 2016). According to the review, behavioral support plays a major role among the people who smoke. One of the interesting findings of the review is that different studies used diverse methods to improve smoking cessation rates. One of the studies used a bronchodilator or placebo inhaler to increase cessation rates (Stead et al., 2016). The conclusion shows that combining pharmacotherapy and behavioral support increases the success rates compared to using minimal intervention or usual care.
Ethical Issues Associated With the Study
The ethical issues associated with the studies include informed consent from the participants. All the participants had to consent to the studies since the lack of informed consent could result in unethical behavior. Beneficence is another ethical issue that requires the authors to use their best knowledge to protect the welfare of the participants (Crane, S., & Broome, 2017). Authors should not expose the participants to risky behaviors that may undermine the recovery process. The studies observed ethical issues related to protecting the information the authors received about the participants. Maintaining confidentiality about the data was critical in the success of the studies (Artal & Rubenfeld, 2017).
The benefit of Randomized Design
The purpose of using a randomized design was to compare the interventions used in smoking cessation. Randomization is essential in reducing the level of bias that can undermine the accuracy of the results (Llovet et al., 2019). The approach improves statistical reliability that enhances the confidence levels of the results. Randomization provides a tool to examine the cause-effect relationship that increases the knowledge about an issue.
References
Artal, R., & Rubenfeld, S. (2017). Ethical issues in research. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 43, 107-114.
Crane, S., & Broome, M. E. (2017). Understanding ethical issues of research participation from the perspective of participating children and adolescents: a systematic review. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 14(3), 200-209.
Llovet, J. M., Montal, R., & Villanueva, A. (2019). Randomized trials and endpoints in advanced HCC: role of PFS as a surrogate of survival. Journal of Hepatology, 70(6), 1262-1277.
Stead, L. F., Koilpillai, P., Fanshawe, T. R., & Lancaster, T. (2016). Combined pharmacotherapy and behavioural interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (3). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008286.pub3 https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008286.pub3/full
