Cigarette smoking prevalence, cessation and relapse

This paper briefly reviews three aspects of cigarette smoking behaviour: recent British trends in prevalence and cessation, tobacco dependence and the nicotine withdrawal syndrome, and treatment for smokers using nicotine replacement therapy. It concludes with a meta-analysis of the effect of relapse in nicotine replacement trials. For many years, until 1994, smoking prevalence in the UK declined at a steady rate but since the early 1980s uptake in the young has remained high. This failure to curb recruitment in the young may be in part responsible for the recent rise in all-age smoking prevalence. Cessation rates are very low when compared with the proportion of smokers who wish to stop and repeatedly try to do so. This disparity can be attributed to the addictiveness of nicotine and the withdrawal symptoms which confront the would-be quitter. To date, the most effective adjunctive aid for smokers trying to quit is nicotine replacement therapy but even when abstinence for several months has been achieved the risk of relapse remains high.