Important Community Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations for Quitlines

The Community Preventive Services Task Force has released new recommendations on strategies for increasing the use of quitlines. The recommendations are based on strong evidence of effectiveness in increasing tobacco cessation among clients interested in quitting. The evidence was based on findings from 60 trials of proactive telephone counseling when provided alone or in combination with additional interventions.

The three interventions considered to be effective at increasing use of quitlines are:

1. Mass-reach health communication interventions that combine cessation messages with a quitline number.
2. Provision of free evidence-based tobacco cessation medications for quitline clients interested in quitting.
3. Quitline referral interventions for health care systems and providers.

Evidence also indicates that quitlines can help to expand the use of evidence-based services by tobacco users in populations that historically have had the most limited access to and use of evidence-based tobacco cessation treatments.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force has also recently

posted new information about two recommendations:

1) "Reducing Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke Exposure:

Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs for Evidence-Based Tobacco

Cessation Treatments,”and
2) "Reducing Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke Exposure: Quitline

Interventions."