Tobacco cessation interventions for young people

Area of Science:

• Adolescent health
• Tobacco control
• Behavioral science

Background:

• Adolescent smoking remains prevalent despite prevention efforts.
• Effectiveness of adult smoking cessation interventions for adolescents is unclear.
• This is an updated Cochrane review of interventions for adolescent smoking cessation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of strategies aimed at helping young people quit smoking tobacco.
• Focus on interventions for adolescents under 20 who are regular smokers.
• Exclusion of programs primarily focused on preventing uptake.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of randomized controlled trials, cluster-randomized controlled trials, and controlled trials.
• Searched specialized registers including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO.
• Data extraction and risk of bias assessment by two authors; meta-analysis using fixed-effect model where appropriate.

Main Results:

• Twenty-eight trials involving ~6000 adolescents were included; most had high or unclear risk of bias.
• Transtheoretical Model (TTM) based interventions showed moderate long-term success (RR 1.56).
• Motivational enhancement interventions (RR 1.60) and the 'Not on Tobacco' program (RR 1.31) showed some effectiveness; pharmacotherapies (NRT, bupropion) were not effective.

Conclusions:

• Complex interventions combining motivational enhancement and CBT show promise for adolescent smoking cessation.
• More research is needed on sustained quitting and pharmacological interventions.
• Insufficient evidence exists to recommend widespread implementation of any single model; well-designed RCTs are needed.