More than a third of the patients who attended the smoking cessation consultation last year at the Department of Health of the Murcia City Council managed to stop the unhealthy – and increasingly expensive – smoking habit. This is reflected in the memory of this municipal service for the year 2022 and which yields “very positive” results, according to municipal sources, also coinciding with the celebration last week of World No Tobacco Day. In total, there were 62 people attended in this consultation in person and 22 who completely eliminated consumption.
The main access route to it is through referral by Primary Care doctors, who refer patients to their professionals when they find it especially necessary for them to abandon this addiction, as it appears associated with pathologies that are aggravated by tobacco. In fact, there is also an agreement with the Digestive outpatient clinics of the Reina Sofía Hospital in Murcia to treat those affected by inflammatory bowel disease who have a smoking problem, since the response to treatment for this pathology depends, to a large extent, on extent, of quitting cigarettes. However, it is also possible to access the municipal service without medical referral, although, in such cases, priority is given to those who present pathologies such as COPD, emphysema, sleep apnea or have suffered a stroke or acute myocardial infarction.
Only one in five treated males abandons it, compared to half of the females; 45% without nicotine or drugs
Of the 62 patients who attended this consultation, more than half –a total of 33– were women and the rest were men. In fact, there was greater success in cessation treatment among the female group –who showed, on average, greater willpower–, since of the 22 people who completely stopped using, 16 were women. In this way, almost half of the women treated managed to quit, while this only occurred in the case of one in five men. The average age of those attended was 56 years, although their age range was between 31 and 78 years. It is also noteworthy that more than half of the patients who completed the treatment satisfactorily – a dozen – had comorbidity with other disorders that were aggravated by this consumption.
The power of the will
Regarding the therapies used, a dozen of the people who stopped smoking did so without any treatment, beyond medical follow-up and their willpower. Another eight resorted to nicotine replacement therapies through patches, candies or chewing gum with variable content of this substance. Finally, the last four responded to drug treatment, which was not useful for another five patients. The abandonment of consumption is verified by means of a co-oximeter or meter of carbon monoxide in exhaled air. However, many of those surveyed, although they had not stopped the habit, did report having lowered their consumption.
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