Text messages help smokers to quit (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford health chief welcomes results of study

12:10am Thursday 30th June 2011 in Health News By Claire Lomax

Stop-smoking experts in Bradford have welcomed the results of a study published today which found motivational text messages sent to smokers’ mobile phones can double their chances of giving up tobacco.

The “txt2stop” trial tested the effects of messages on almost 3,000 smokers.

Participants were twice as likely to banish their habit as another group sent texts unrelated to smoking.

The text messages, designed by experts with the help of smokers, provided encouragement up to “quit day”, advice on keeping off weight while quitting, and help with cravings.

One example read: “This is it! – QUIT DAY, throw away all your fags. TODAY is the start of being QUIT forever, you can do it!”

Another, focusing on craving, read: “Cravings last less than five minutes on average. To help distract yourself, try sipping a drink slowly until the craving is over.”

The randomly selected smokers in the programme received five text messages a day for five weeks, followed by three per week for the next six months.

People were able to receive instant messages at times of need by texting “crave” or “lapse”.

A similar sized “control” group of smokers were sent texts simply thanking them for their participation, requesting confirmation of contact details, or mentioning a range of topics not connected to smoking. Saliva tests for a tobacco break-down chemical called cotinine were used to verify that smokers had quit.

They confirmed how many had managed to stop smoking for six months. The results, published today in The Lancet medical journal, showed a 10.7 per cent success rate for those receiving the motivational texts compared with 4.9 per cent for members of the control group.

Lorraine Bradbury, of NHS Bradford and Airedale’s stop smoking service, said: “This sounds like a great idea as it could be a quick and easy way to give extra support to people who are getting help to quit smoking.

“People are up to four times more likely to stop smoking, and stay stopped, if they get professional support and use some form of stop smoking medication.”

To contact the stop smoking service, call (01274) 202793 or text “quitb” to 88020.

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