An Evaluation of Usage Patterns, Effectiveness and Cost of the National Smoking Cessation Quitline..
Friday, July 11, 2014
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Tob Control. 2014 Jun 11. pii: tobaccocontrol-2013-051520.
doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051520. [Epub ahead of print]
An Evaluation of Usage
Patterns, Effectiveness and Cost of the National Smoking Cessation Quitline in
Thailand.
Meeyai A, Yunibhand J,
Punkrajang P, Pitayarangsarit S.
Telephone-based smoking cessation services (quitlines) offering counseling for
smoking cessation without nicotine replacement therapy may be important
components of tobacco control efforts in low and middle income countries, but
evaluations in such resource-limited settings are lacking. We aimed to evaluate
the usage, effectiveness and cost of the Thailand National Quitline (TNQ). METHODS: Analysis of
retrospective data for callers to the TNQ between 2009 and 2012 and a follow-up
survey in 1161 randomly selected callers. RESULTS:
Between 2009 and 2012 there were 116 862 callers to the TNQ; 36 927 received
counseling and at least one follow-up call. Compared with smokers in the
general population, callers were younger, more highly educated, more likely to
be students, and more likely to smoke cigarettes rather than roll-your-own
tobacco. Continuous abstinence rates at 1, 3 and 6 months after calling were
49.9%, 38.0% and 33.1%. The predicted rate at 12 months was 19.54% (95% CI
14.55 to 26.24). Average cost per completed counseling was $31 and the average
cost per quitter was $253. Assuming all (and two-thirds) TNQ callers who
succeed in quitting would have failed to quit without the assistance of the
TNQ, cumulative life years saved (LYS) for the 4-year period were 57 238
(36 733) giving a cost per LYS of $32 (50) (about 7.93 LYS per quitter) and an
estimated return on investment over 4 years of 9.01 (5.78). CONCLUSIONS: A
low-cost quitline without nicotine replacement therapy is a promising model for
smoking cessation services and likely to offer good value for money in
Thailand.
|
|
Email to a Friend