Effectiveness of Stop Smoking Ads

Stop smoking ads can be very useful in an effort to educate the general public about the hazards of tobacco use. I still remember having conversations with my parents about smoking after we saw an advertisement on the television. My dad, who smoked, told me smoking was bad and we shouldn't do it. He reinforced the message given on the advertisement. Eventually, he quit cold turkey while I was in college. He later told me that was one of the best decisions he had ever made.

Recently, I blogged about how there were talks of putting graphic pictures on cigarette packaging. People with stomas, oral cancer, etc. The thought process was that the graphic picture warning on the packaging would be more effective than the standard textual "Surgeon General's" warning.

In Australia, they brought these two ad campaigns together. A recent study from Brennan and others in the Tobacco Control journal, evaluated this synergy of adverstisements in an article entitled "Mass media campaigns desidned to support new pictorial health warnings on cigarette packets: evidence of a compliementary relationship" [2011 Apr 7 - Epub ahead of print].

The authors concluded that there does seem to be a synergy between television smoking cessation advertisements and graphic pictorial health warnings on cigarette packaging. They found a complimentary relationship in raising awareness in a positive way about the terrible health consequences associated with tobacco use. They feel that television or mass media campaigns can improve depth of understanding and  help personalize the "quit for your own health" message.

I think this article also points to the success that can be found within a national advertising smoking cessation strategy. I'm still amazed that we'll spend billions (with a B) of dollars to treat disease, but we won't spend a couple of million for advertising to help spread the message that smoking is bad.

Anti-smoking Sponge Campaign (Video)

Here is the best anti-smoking video you've never seen; produced originally by the Australians. Interestingly, this video was translated and broadcast in Turkey, which has the 10th largest male smoking population in the world. Once this aired, the Turkey quitlines were all a buzz. As the British Medical Journal put it, "Busy quit lines are a good problem to have".

Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction from CT Scan Screening

Today's study comes from the journal Lung Cancer and looks at the benefit of CT Scans to reduce lung cancer mortality. As many already know, smoking causes roughly 90% of all lung cancers, among many other terrible diseases. This particular study looked at a cohort of 7995 smokers who had a CT scan screen in New York. They compared this group to two unscreened cohorts (we'll call them A and B).

The researchers then had to do some fancy footwork to standardize the mortality ratio (to adjust for age, sex, and smoking history). The results showed a significant reduction in deaths from lung cancer. Thirty-six percent reduction from group A and 64% from group B.

So here is a case where smokers basically had a CT screening of their lungs despite having no other symptoms. These were pre-emptive, as it were. There are always discussions among lawmakers and healthcare professionals alike, as to whether we should do screening like this, because it's so expensive.

In the case of smokers, however, the evidence is pretty clear. CT screening is a great tool and can be part of a cost-avoidance strategy in this population. Ultimately though, it's better for the smoker to just stop smoking. That simple act can provide them with real disease prevention and decrease their health dollar expenditures.

Smoking Prevention in Kids

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

If smokers were honest with themselves, they would readily admit that they don't want their kids to follow them into the cigarette smoking world. I think most people (smokers included) know that smoking is bad for them and those around them. So how can we as a community, help the kids turn away from the culture of smoking?

I remember watching television ads detailing the adverse effects of smoking. Those were great because I was incredibly impressionable and even though my dad smoked, I knew that I didn't want to follow in his footsteps. Except for some very artistic "Truth" commercials, I don't see a lot of public support for anti-smoking campaigns. It seems the stop smoking message is having a difficult time getting published on the American airways.

Interestingly, a study from the Netherlands published in Preventive Medicine, looked at what a public prevention program might look like and gives some insight into the success of such a program. They developed a program that targeted elementary students in 5th and 6th grade. These are ten and eleven year olds who are about to be placed into a junior high school atmosphere where all sorts of peer pressures and experimentations are really at work.

The intervention group received only three anti-smoking lessons in both 5th and 6th grade for a total of six lessons prior to advancing to 7th grade. They discovered the kids in the intervention group had a higher intention not to smoke and, in fact, started to smoke less often than the control group kids who did not receive the lessons. The smoking prevalence increased from 2.5% to 3.6% in the intervention group, whereas, the control group saw a jump from 3.2% to 6.5%.

Understand this is only after receiving 3 lessons in each grade prior to going on to secondary school. Imagine if they had received intensive reinforcement at home or on television. It appears that very little effort can provide large gains in helping children avoid taking that first experimental puff. Interestingly, the study found that girls had the greatest difference in smoking prevalency between the intervention and control group.

What does this mean for us? Well, I think it shows that a well placed conversation with your children over their elementary school days, can provide them with a great foundation for not smoking when they get to junior high or high school. So don't be shy about telling your kids to not smoke. Tell them how bad it is and what the potential consequences are when they're young. It seems they'll remember when their friends are telling them how great it is.

Anti Smoking Ads

How many of us remember the anti smoking ads or commercials on television back in the 1970's? I remember those ads. I remember talking about smoking with my parents because of these public service announcements. It seems like they were on, along with the anti-littering campaigns.

I think most kids are a lot like I was, inquisitive and hungry to learn stuff. Now, I wasn't all fired up about history or math, but I was very interested in things of the world. I used to ask my parents all sorts of questions about news headlines or social topics that I read or heard about. I simply couldn't get enough information. The kids of today are no different. They want to know what's going on. After all, they grew up in the information age. We are constantly pushing the limits of communication. Twitter, Social Networking, Mashable and Digg. They've all revolutionized how we view life.

What if we could use these information mediums to teach our kids today? Again, I'm not talking about social studies, but more like raising awareness within these kids. Help them to understand not only what's right and wrong, but why it's right or why it's wrong. A study in the Preventing Chronic Disease journal, looked at the influence of school policies on smoking prevalence among middle and junior high students.

The study looked at 10 Canadian school provinces during the 2004-05 school year. School tobacco policies were reviewed and students in grades 5-9 were given the Youth Smoking Survey. What the researchers found, was that schools whose policies explicitly stated purpose and goals regarding smoking, had a lower prevalence of smoking both at the school and among individuals in general. Policies which simply stated "no smoking allowed on campus" had a lower school smoking rate, but did not have lower individual smoking rates.

So how do I interpret these findings? Well, I think it goes back to my earlier point. If you don't educate or tell the kids why something is the way it is, they're not going to be as willing to follow along. However, if you give them expectations, explain why the rules exist, talk about how we're trying to protect their health, I believe you'll find them a lot more open to listening and remaining abstinent.

We've lost our way with smoking education in this country. We should borrow a page from our past and begin educating the kids; not just the teenagers, but the younger ones too. I've always been told that providing your child with the reason behind the rule, will help them follow the rule. I believe this study solidifies that point.