Review: smoking cessation strategies in patients with lung disease

Smoking is related to a great variety of pathological conditions, many of which affect the respiratory system, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Smoking cessation should be an integral part of the therapeutic approach to patients with pulmonary disease.

The objective was to provide a systematic review of the efficacy of the various treatments for smoking cessation in patients with diagnosed pulmonary disease.

We conducted a search in the PubMed database in order to find studies related to the efficiency of smoking cessation treatments for this group of patients. Studies with confusing or no data on outcome and follow-up, and studies which did not use validated techniques were excluded.

The current treatment options include pharmaceutical therapies (bupropion, varenicline, etc) and counselling techniques. In the few trials that have been conducted, both approaches seem to be effective for treating tobacco dependence, with even higher abstinence rates, when combined.

Despite the promising results, more research is necessary, especially in patients with lung cancer, in order to determine the most beneficial smoking cessation treatment for each group of patients.