Brief Advice Offered by Anesthetic Personnel to Encourage Smoking Cessation in Ambulatory Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Patients in a Developing Country

Abstract

This study was to assess the effectiveness of brief advice offered by anesthetic personnel in quitting self-reported smoking in smoker patients who underwent GIE procedures in a developing country. After completing a baseline questionnaire assessing sociopsycho-demographics, tobacco dependence and quitting motivation, 114 smoker patients were randomized into two groups. Patients in Group A were encouraged smoking cessation, and the patients in Group B were not. After six-months of post advice, 12 patients (20.7%) in Group A and four patients (7.1%) in Group B quitted smoking. The number of cigarettes smoked, Fagerström score for nicotine dependence, and the patients having a partner who smoked in the continued smoking group was significantly higher than in the quitted smoking group. In conclusion, the brief advice by anesthetic personnel is a relatively effective and easy technique for smoking cessation in ambulatory GIE patients in a tertiary-care hospital in a developing country.