KWENU! Our culture, our future

 Quit smoking initiatives

Sunday,  February 22,   2004

Dr. Michael Burke is a very busy man. He doubles as a professional psychologist and an academic staff at the University of Medicine &  Dentistry, New Jersey, United States of America (USA). Despite his tight schedule, Dr. Burke took time to speak to me on current quit smoking initiatives in the institution’s Tobacco Dependence Clinic, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Taking me round the clinic, the psychologist revealed some of the practical strategies that have proved very effective in treating the hundreds of patients that troop to the clinic seeking help against the addiction to the pipe. The 30-minute interview facilitated by Ali Bangura, a Sierra Leonean enthusiast of the program, was very expedient and exciting. Here are excerpts:

‘Tobacco is the single greatest cause of disease and premature death in America today. It is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths each year. Nearly 25 percent of the adult population smoke and 3,000 children and adolescents become regular users of tobacco every day.’

The World Health Organization estimates that by 2025 10 million people per year will be dying from tobacco use and we may lose 1 billion people to tobacco during this century.

‘It is believed that the costs of tobacco-related death and disease approach $100 billion each year. But the good news is that more than 70 percent of all current smokers have expressed a desire to stop smoking. And most importantly if they successfully quit, the result will be both immediate and long-term health improvements.’

‘Tobacco dependence is a chronic disease that deserves treatment and repeated interventions. A multi disciplinary team of trained specialists with backgrounds in internal medicine, psychiatry, psychology, social work and counseling has a vital role to play in helping smokers quit.’

 I believe “all health professionals can play a role in helping people quit by asking each patient about tobacco use, advising any who smoke to quit, assessing the patient for motivation and appropriate treatment for becoming tobacco free, assisting them in a quit attempt and arranging follow-up.”

The first-line pharmacotherapies -- medical interventions --  that reliably increase long-term smoking abstinence rates include:

·                                 Bupropion SR

·                                 Nicotine Gum

·                                 Nicotine Inhaler

·                                 Nicotine Nasal Spray

·                                 Nicotine Patch

·                                 Nicotine lozange

‘The second-line pharmacotherapies identified as effective and may be considered as a good alternative to the first regimen are clonidine and nortriptyline. Also over-the-counter nicotine patches are considered effective relative to placebo and their use should be encouraged.’

‘Studies have revealed a strong dose-response relationship between the intensity of tobacco dependence counseling and its effectiveness. For instance treatments involving person-to-person contact via individual, group, or proactive telephone counseling are consistently effective and their effectiveness increases with treatment intensity.’

In that wise three types of counseling and behavioural therapies in this clinic and other US-based Tobacco Dependence Clinics in treating all patients attempting tobacco cessation:

-Provision of practical counseling such as problem-solving and skills training

-Provision of social support as part of treatment otherwise called intra-treatment social support

-Help in securing social support outside of treatment also known as extra-treatment social support.

Also there are several health benefits from the quit smoking therapy. It is said that if a patient stops smoking:

·                                       In 20 minutes the blood pressure, temperature and pulse rate all return to normal.

·                                       In 8 hours oxygen level in the blood increases to normal

·                                       In 24 hours risk of heart attack decreases

·                                       In 48 hours walking becomes easier and the ability to taste and smell become enhanced

·                                       In 3 months circulation improves while lung function increases up to 30 percent and

·                                       In 1 year risk of coronary disease is half that of a smoker.

What more can one add? The huge impact of tobacco on smokers, non-smokers and the global environment are much more too large to ignore or trivialize by the mercantile antics of tobacco corporations.

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