Table 2.

Smoking behaviour and cessation

• The natural course of cigarette smoking is typically characterised by the onset of regular smoking in adolescence, followed by repeated attempts to quit

• Each year about a third of adult smokers in the United Kingdom try to quit, usually unaided and typically relapsing within days

• In general, less than 3% of attempts to quit result in sustained (12 months') cessation, though the chances of success are slightly higher in women of childbearing age, parents of young children, and spouses of non-smokers