[Evaluation of the intervention to quit smoking in people with mental illness]

A high proportion of those seeking help to quit smoking have psychiatric disorders. The aim of this work is to analyze the effectiveness of those group smoking cessation programs who are usually employed in Primary Care and to compare their results to those obtained with non psychiatric patients.

A descriptive longitudinal study with a one-year follow-up that evaluated smoking cessation groups conducted in a Primary Care setting between 2006 and 2011. Nineteen groups were carried out and 267 smokers were included; 36.3% had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. The program consisted of five 90 minutes sessions (up to six weeks after abstinence) with telephonic follow-up for a year. Abstinence was verified by cooximetry at the end of the program and by self-declaration afterwards. Quantitative and qualitative variables were described, and the association between variables analyzed through binary logistic regression.

Self-declared continuous abstinence rate at 12 months of was 39.7%, being slightly higher, not in a non significant way, in women (43.1% vs. 35.1%; p: 0.18). Smokers with no history of psychiatric illness showed better abstinence rates, although without significant differences (42.9% vs. 34.0%; p: 0.16). There was no significant interaction between sex and psychiatric pathology. Those with a psychiatric disorder relapsed in a significantly higher rate during the first six weeks after abstinence [23.7% vs. 10.6%, p: 0.019; OR:1.90(1.08-3.36)]; relapse rates were similar afterwards (44,1% vs. 42,5%; p> 0,8).

This group intervention program for smoking cessation is effective. Although smokers with a present or previous history of psychiatric disorder may find abstinence harder to attain, they benefit from the intervention.