Table 1.
Review of Published Literature Relating Past Quit History (Recency, Length, and Number of Past Attempts) to Future Cessation Outcomes (Making Quit Attempts and Achieving Sustained Abstinence)
| Source | Method | Control variablesa | Recency of past attempts | Length of past attempts | Number of attempts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Making a quit attempt | |||||
| Hyland et al. (2006) | N = 6,260 smokers, followed-up after 6 months | Country, age, income, intention to quit, HSI, smoking frequency, opinion of smoking, worries about health, favorable attitudes to smoking | Any quit attempts in the past year (vs. none) predicted future attempts | Longest attempt ever of 6 months or more (vs. none) predicted future attempts | Not measured |
| van den Putte et al. (2009) | N = 3,411 smokers, followed-up after 4 months | Intention to quit, subjective norm, self-efficacy, quitting identity, smoking identity | More recent attempts (over lifespan) predicted future attempts | No significant association | More lifetime attempts reduced likelihood of future attempts |
| Zhou et al. (2009) | N = 2,431 smokers intending to quit within the next 3 months, followed-up every 3 months for up to 18 months | Sex, motivation to quit, intention to quit, number of smoke-free days in past 3 months, FTND score | Any lifetime attempts, and any attempts in the past 3 months (vs. none) predicted future attempts (more recent = stronger association) | Not measured | More lifetime attempts increased likelihood of future attempts |
| Hagimoto et al. (2009) | N = 1,358 smokers followed-up after 1 year | Cigarettes per day, wish to quit, intention to quit, doctor’s advice to quit | Any lifetime quit attempts (vs. none) predicted future attempts | No significant association | Not measured |
| Achieving sustained abstinence | |||||
| Hyland et al. (2006) | N = 2,274 smokers who made quit attempts, followed-up after 6 months | HSI, smoking frequency, outcome expectancy | No significant association | Longest attempt ever ≤ 1 week (vs. none) reduced likelihood of 1 month abstinence | Not measured |
| Zhou et al. (2009) | N = 2,431 smokers intending to quit within the next 3 months, followed-up every 3 months for up to 18 months | Country, FTND score, other smokers, depression/anxiety symptoms, stop-smoking medication use, postquit sleep/appetite disturbance | Any previous lifetime quit attempts (vs. none) increased likelihood of relapse over the next 18 months among smokers who had tried to quit | Not measured | No significant association |
| Hagimoto et al. (2009) | N = 312 smokers who made quit attempts followed-up after 1 year | FTND score | Any lifetime quit attempts (vs. none) reduced likelihood of 1 week abstinence; no significant association with 6 months sustained abstinence | No significant association | Not measured |
| Farkas et al. (1996) | N = 2,066 smokers, followed-up after 2 years | Cigarettes per day, smoking frequency, prior episodes of quitting for at least 1 year | Not measured | Longest attempt ever ≥6 months (vs. <6 months) more likely to be quit (point prevalence) | Not measured |
| Lee & Kahende (2007) | N = 3,218 current smokers with a failed attempt in the past year, and N = 772 recent “successful” quitters (abstinent at least 7 months) | Age, education, marital status, race/ethnicity, ever used low-tar cigarettes, other smokers in home, nonsmoking policy at work | Not measured | Not measured | Current smokers reported more lifetime attempts than current successful quitters |
| Sendzik et al. (2011) | N = 551 smokers who made quit attempts, followed-up 6 months later | Planning of attempt, cigarettes per day, support person | Not measured | Not measured | No association with 1 week or 1 month sustained abstinence |
Note. HSI = heaviness of smoking index; FTND = Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence.
aOnly the control variables with significant associations with the outcome are listed, and details of variable definitions are not provided. Please consult the relevant references for further details of control variables.