Mobile phone text messaging and app-based interventions for smoking cessation.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health Interventions
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Mobile phone-based smoking cessation (mCessation) provides accessible, automated, and affordable behavioral support for smokers.
• mCessation is crucial for individuals unable or unwilling to attend face-to-face support sessions.
• This review is an updated Cochrane analysis of mCessation interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of mobile phone-based interventions in increasing smoking cessation rates among smokers.
• To synthesize evidence from randomized controlled trials on mCessation effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to October 2018.
• Included studies focused on mobile phone-based smoking cessation programs (text messages, smartphone apps).
• Analyzed smoking cessation outcomes at a minimum of six-month follow-up using random-effects models.

Main Results:

• Automated text messaging interventions demonstrated moderate certainty of effectiveness, increasing cessation rates by 54% compared to minimal support (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.00).
• Text messaging combined with other interventions showed moderate certainty of benefit (RR 1.59, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.33).
• Smartphone app interventions had very low certainty evidence, showing no significant improvement in cessation rates (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.52).

Conclusions:

• Automated text message-based smoking cessation interventions are effective in improving quit rates.
• Text messaging interventions, when added to other support, offer significant benefits for smoking cessation.
• Further research is needed to establish the efficacy of smartphone app-based smoking cessation interventions.