Proposes a "United Front" for tobacco control researchers, clinicians and advocates, to work together in collaborative partnerships, and to communicate to policymakers about the severity of the tobacco epidemic.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-07-0342
Comments: With limited and declining funding for tobacco, there is a pressing need to work together to advance tobacco control issues.
Reports on the escalating rise in contraband cigarettes in Canada, including the production and sale of cheap cigarettes via native reserves. Illegal cigarettes do not necessarily meet quality-control standards, and often contain unusual dangerous substances.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1503./cmaj.070562
Comments: Read about the growing problem of illegal cigarettes in Canada, and how it seriously undermines public health initiatives to curb smoking.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
In this telephone survey, having strict smoking regulations was correlated with an increase in the likelihood of making a quit attempt; however, it did not impact cessation. In smokers who already saw smoking as an anti-social behaviour, smoking regulations reinforced this belief.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc.2006.017426
Comment: Smoking regulations are increasing the likelihood of smokers to attempt quitting. This is great!
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
This prospective cohort study examined whether women's smoking behaviour prior to entering the US Navy was predictive of subsequent career outcomes. Results indicated that, for women entering the US Navy, being a daily smoker was a prospective predictor of poorer job performance.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc.2006.016436
Comment: I find it interesting that a study like this even took place. Did they conduct the same study with men?
Smoking increased the number of days absent from work by 10.7; however, after controlling for workplace risk factors and health status, this number was reduced further (to 9.7 and 7.7 respectively). Findings recommend that there are benefits to help decrease or prevent smoking with regards to loss of workplace productivity.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc.2006.017798
Comment: This study of Swedish workers found that smokers took nearly eight days more sick days annually than their non-smoking co-workers. The causes for sick leave may be attributed to occupational risk and health-related factors.
Survey was conducted among 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade middle school students in Wisconsin, to determine their use of cigarettes, exposure to smoking in media, their views of smoking, and peer smoking behaviours. Parental restriction of movie viewing was associated with lower adolescent smoking susceptibility and lower smoking rates.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.09.017
Comment: The media can have a significant impact on children and youth. This article is proof that watching someone smoke in the movies can influence a young person to start smoking.
Lydia's comments: Parents! Are you restricting your teen's movie viewing in an attempt to prevent early initiation of tobacco use? According to this study, you're doing the right thing.....
Quit and Win contests are social marketing campaigns that offer incentives for smoking cessation. These successful programs offer support to smokers and have helped approximately 150,000 smokers in over 80 countries quit. This article reviews the components responsible for successful Quit and Win programs.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15245000601163499
Comment: This is a clever marketing campaign that has had great success. Hopefully, the tobacco control community can continue with Quit and Win contests to help smokers beat their addiction to smoking.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
Purpose of this review was to assess the effects of antidepressant medications in aiding smoking cessation. Medications reviewed include bupropion, doxepin, fluoxetine, imipramine, moclobemide, nortriptyline, paroxetine, sertraline, tryptophan and venlafaxine.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000031.pub3
Comment: Trials of burpropion and notriptyline, two medications used to treat depression, are shown to double quit rates of smokers and are similar to that of a nicotine replacement.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
Reviews randomized controlled trials of interventions with children (aged 5 to 12) or adolescents (aged 13 to 18) and family members to deter tobacco use. Fourteen databases, including the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group specialized register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL, were searched.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004493.pub2
Comment: The quality of study effected whether family interventions were effective in preventing adolescents and children from smoking. Programme staff training and the delivery of the program itself may also be related tot he effectiveness of prevention.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
Examines the awareness and fear of blindness, lung cancer, heart disease and stroke among youth. More youth were afraid of blindness compared to the other health conditions; however not many believed that smoking caused blindness. A majority said they would quit smoking if they developed early signs of blindness compared with heart disease or lung cancer.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2006.108191
Comment: Many of the adverse health effects caused by smoking are already known and ignored by teens. Sometimes something new and shocking such as blindness can motivate cessation among an otherwise unmoved group.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
Researched whether cognitive style contributes to variations in smoker behaviour among women in college with different levels of weight concerns: bulimic tendencies, weight concerns, anorexic tendencies, and no weight concerns. Both concerns with body weight and cognitive-style variables, as well as self-control and perfectionism, were significant independent predictors of smoking among college women.
Comment: Weight converns and smoking are often talked about in relation to women. This article suggests that behavioral and cognitive factors are associated with weight-concerned female college smokers and should be taken into consideration during cessation programmes.
(Disponible en anglais seulement.)
The tobacco control community maintains that homeless shelter providers have common opinions that homeless individuals regard quitting smoking as unimportant and see tobacco as a commodity. Interviews and focus groups with homeless people reveal that homeless people are interested in quitting smoking in the near future.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc.2006.018697
Comment: Shows that when thinking about cessation programs aimed at specific groups, it’s important to talk to the audience directly, rather than the intermediaries.