DESIGN: Use of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project surveys of smokers, using the 2007 survey wave (or later, where necessary).
SETTINGS: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay and United States.
PARTICIPANTS: Samples of smokers from 15 countries.
MEASUREMENTS: Self-report on use of cessation aids and on visits to health professionals and provision of cessation advice during the visits.
FINDINGS: Prevalence of quit attempts in the last year varied from less than 20% to more than 50% across countries. Similarly, smokers varied greatly in reporting visiting health professionals in the last year (<20% to over 70%), and among those who did, provision of advice to quit also varied greatly. There was also marked variability in the levels and types of help reported. Use of medication was generally more common than use of behavioural support, except where medications are not readily available.
CONCLUSIONS: There is wide variation across countries in rates of attempts to stop smoking and use of assistance with higher overall use of medication than behavioural support. There is also wide variation in the provision of brief advice to stop by health professionals.
METHODS: Data came from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, a household-based survey of non-institutionalized adults aged ≥15 years. Surveys were conducted in 31 countries during 2008-2018; sample sizes ranged from 4,250 (Malaysia) to 74,037 (India), and response rates ranged from 64.4% (Ukraine) to 98.5% (Qatar). In 2019, data from the 31 countries were assessed in June 2019, and indicators included self-reported current (daily or less than daily) tobacco smoking, past-year quit attempts, and cessation methods used in the past 12 months.
RESULTS: Current tobacco smoking prevalence ranged from 3.7% (Ethiopia) to 38.2% (Greece). Overall, an estimated 176.8 million adults from the 31 countries made a quit attempt in the past 12 months, with country-level prevalence ranging from 16.4% (Greece) to 54.7% (Botswana). Most individuals who made a quit attempt did so without assistance (median=74.4%). Other methods were less prevalent, including quitlines (median=0.2%) and counseling (median=7.2%).
CONCLUSIONS: In the assessed countries, the majority of those who currently smoked tobacco and made a quit attempt did so without assistance; very few reported using quitlines, partly because of the lack of quitlines in some countries. In resource-limited settings, quitlines can play a greater role in helping people quit smoking as part of a comprehensive approach.
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to measure leptin and calorie intake among different nicotine dependent groups.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: Research department in school of medical sciences.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Subjects were selected by purposive (non-probability) sampling and categorized as having low, moderate and high nicotine dependency based on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) score. Diet was recorded by interview. Anthropometry, blood pressure, body composition, lipid profile, and physical activity level were measured accordingly. Fasting serum leptin was measured using a commercial ELISA kit.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Nicotine dependency, 24-hour diet, clinical anthropometric and clinical measurements.
RESULTS: In 107 Malay male smokers leptin concentration was inversely correlated with nicotine dependence. However, body weight, smoking period, blood pressure, body composition, lipid profile and physical activity level were not significantly different among low, moderately and highly dependent smoking groups. Leptin concentration and total calorie intake were also not significantly different among these groups.
CONCLUSION: Leptin concentration was inversely correlated with nicotine dependence, but leptin concentration and total calorie intake status were not significantly different among our different nicotine dependency subjects.
LIMITATIONS: Purposive sampling for subject recruitment and inaccurate information in the self-administered questionnaire.