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Txt2stop: a pilot randomised controlled trial of mobile phone-based smoking cessation support
C Free1, R Whittaker, R Knight
1Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E7HT, UK. caroline.free@lshtm.ac.uk
Aim:
To conduct a pilot randomised controlled trial of mobile phone-based smoking cessation support intervention for the UK population.
Design:
Randomised controlled trial (txt2stop).
Setting:
Community.
Participants:
200 participants responding to radio, poster and leaflet-based promotions regarding the trial.
Main Outcome Measures:
The response rate for the outcome measures planned for the main trial. Participants' qualitative responses to open-ended questions about the intervention content. Secondary outcomes were the outcomes planned for the main trial including the point prevalence of self-reported smoking at 4 weeks and pooled effect estimate for the short-term results for the STOMP and txt2stop trials.
Results:
The response rate at 4 weeks was 96% and at 6 months was 92%. The results at 4 weeks show a doubling of self-reported quitting relative risk (RR) 2.08 (95% CI 1.11 to 3.89), 26% vs 12%. The pooled effect estimate combining txt2stop and a previous New Zealand trial in the short term is RR 2.18 (95% CI 1.79 to 2.65).
Conclusions:
Mobile phone-based smoking cessation is an innovative means of delivering smoking cessation support, which doubles the self-reported quit rate in the short term. It could represent an important, but as yet largely unused, medium to deliver age-appropriate public health measures. The long-term effect of this mobile phone-based smoking cessation support will be established by a large randomised controlled trial currently in recruitment.
