Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Primary Care Respiratory Journal: Journal of the General Practice Airways Group logoLink to Primary Care Respiratory Journal: Journal of the General Practice Airways Group
editorial
. 2008 Sep 5;17(3):185–193. doi: 10.3132/pcrj.2008.00060

IPCRG Consensus statement: Tackling the smoking epidemic — practical guidance for primary care

Onno CP van Schayck 1,*, Hilary Pinnock 2, Anders Ostrem 3, John Litt 4, Ron Tomlins 5, Siân Williams 6, Johan Buffels 7, Dimitri Giannopoulos 8,9, Svein Henrichsen 10, Janneke Kaper 11, Oleksiy Korzh 12, Ana Morán Rodriguez 13, Sehmi Kawaldip 14, Nick Zwar 15, Hakan Yaman 16
PMCID: PMC6619895  PMID: 18769845

Abstract

Tobacco use will become the world's foremost cause of premature death and disability within 20 years unless current trends are reversed. Many opportunities to reduce this epidemic are missed in primary care. This Discussion paper from the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) — which reflects the IPCRG's understanding of primary care practitioners' needs — summarises a new approach based on strong evidence for effective interventions.

All primary care health professionals can increase smoking cessation rates among their patients, even when time and resources are limited. Medical and non-medical staff can support patients who choose to quit by providing information, referral to telephone counselling services, and behavioural counselling using motivational interviewing techniques, where resources permit. Drug therapy to manage nicotine dependence can significantly improve patients' chances of quitting successfully, and is recommended for people who smoke 10 or more cigarettes per day. All interventions should be tailored to the individual's circumstances and attitudes.

Keywords: smoking cessation, primary care, general practice, international, practical guidance, guideline implementation, tobacco control, tobacco dependence, IPCRG

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (344.6 KB).

Footnotes

The authors have declared that there are no directly relevant conflicts of interest in relation to this article.


Articles from Primary Care Respiratory Journal: Journal of the General Practice Airways Group are provided here courtesy of Primary Care Respiratory Society UK/Macmillan Publishers Limited

RESOURCES