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Hypnosis Most Effective Smoking Cessation Method in Comparison Study of Hospitalised Patients: Presented at CHEST

By Em Brown

CHICAGO, IL -- October 24, 2007 -- Half of hospitalised smokers show sustained success of smoking cessation with hypnosis compared with other approaches tested in a comparison study.

Hypnosis was twice as effective as the next best smoking cessation approach, including pharmacologic treatments, in a study that compared four smoking cessation programs in hospitalised patients who were motivated to quit.

The results of the study were presented here on October 22 at CHEST 2007, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

A team led by Faysal Hasan, MD, Pulmonary Medicine Specialist, North Shore Medical Center, Salem, Massachusetts, United States, enrolled 67 smokers who were hospitalised at their institution in a four-arm study, to compare hypnosis, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), hypnotherapy plus NRT, or abrupt cessation without other treatment (cold turkey).

All patients expressed a desire to stop smoking, which Dr. Hasan said is key to the success of any cessation program. Patients were allowed to choose their own treatment, in part to allow for bias introduced by any previous cessation attempts. Patients who had failed to stop smoking with a previous method were likely to choose a different approach in this study.

Men were more likely to choose a "quick fix," going cold turkey or choosing a NRT patch, he said, while women were more likely to choose hypnotherapy. All patients received counselling.

Patients receiving hypnosis underwent an initial session while in the hospital and a second session a week after discharge. Patients receiving NRT began therapy during hospitalisation and continued with NRT during the month after discharge.

After 6 months, 50% of patients who underwent hypnosis remained smoking-free as were those who received hypnotherapy plus NRT. One quarter of patients who went cold turkey remained successful, while 15.78% of those who received NRT alone continued to not smoke.

Adding NRT did not help the success of hypnotherapy, Dr. Hasan reported.

Patients who had been hospitalised with a cardiac diagnosis were more likely to be successful at quitting than those with a pulmonary diagnosis, with success rates of 45.5% and 15.63%, respectively.

"Patients chose their own treatment approach. This is important," Dr. Hasan told meeting attendees. Equally important is the patient's motivation to quit, he added.

"This concept of motivation is a mystery," he said. It may be fear-based, but patients also need "hope and frequent feedback."

While it was not shown in this particular study, Dr Hasan said, "Every intervention doubles the success rate." Combinations of counselling and continued support, hypnosis and pharmacologic therapy can all contribute to successful smoking cessation program.


[Presentation title: Hypnotherapy as an Aid to Smoking Cessation of Hospitalized patients: Preliminary Results. Abstract 6066]

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