Smoking Cessation / Quitting Smoking

Quitting tobacco use is difficult and may require multiple attempts, as users often relapse because of withdrawal symptoms. Examples of nicotine withdrawal symptoms include: 

• irritability
• anxiety
• difficulty concentrating
• increased appetite

Health Benefits of Quitting

• People who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely. Benefits are greater for people who stop at earlier ages, but cessation is beneficial at all ages.
  
• Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer. The risk for developing cancer declines with the number of years of smoking cessation.
  
• Risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease is reduced after smoking cessation.
  
• Coronary heart disease risk is substantially reduced within 1 to 2 years of cessation.
  
• Cessation reduces respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. The rate of decline in lung function is slower among persons who quit smoking.
  
• Women who stop smoking before or during pregnancy reduce their risk for adverse reproductive outcomes such as infertility or having a low-birth-weight baby.
  

Tobacco Use Cessation Methods

• Brief clinical interventions by health care providers can increase the chances of successful cessation, as can counseling and behavioral cessation therapies. Treatments with more person-to-person contact and intensity (e.g., more time with counselors) are more effective. Individual, group, or telephone counseling are all effective.
  
• Pharmacological therapies found to be effective for treating tobacco dependence include nicotine replacement products (e.g., gum, inhaler, patch) and non-nicotine medications, such as bupropion SR (Zyban®) and varenicline tartrate (Chantix™).