UK National Smoking Cessation Conference
Friday, August 01, 2008
Jonathan Foulds, MA, MAppSci, PhD
Probably the best conference on smoking cessation over recent years has been the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference. The UK is probably the only country to have a national and fairly comprehensive smoking cessation service involving widespread access to trained smoking cessation counselors, access to low cost smoking cessation medicines (via the UKs National Health Service), as well as telephone and internet help. As a result, this conference is the largest gathering of smoking cessation counselors in the world, and also attracts many attendees and speakers from other countries.
It consistently has very lively speakers and many of the presentations are available online with the full slides and audio recording. The 2008 conference just became available online and includes many interesting presentations. For example, an interesting slide show by Rachna Kasliwal describing results of a study of adverse events in patients using Chantix is available at:
http://www.uknscc.org/2008_UKNSCC/speakers/rachna_kasliwal.htmlAn interesting debate on the topic;
“Debate: This house believes that hypnotherapy and acupuncture should be treatments provided by NHS Smoking Services” is also available with full audio and slides at:
http://www.uknscc.org/2008_UKNSCC/speakers/debate.htmlI also thought the presentation by Dr Paul Eveyard on “Does stopping smoking mean putting on weight?” was very interesting. The audio recording and his slides are available at:
http://www.uknscc.org/2008_UKNSCC/speakers/paul_aveyard.html The full archive of each conference from 2005-2008 is now available online at:
http://www.uknscc.org/index.htmlIt provides an excellent source of information from leading experts on all aspects of stopping smoking.
Labels: cessation, cigarette smoking, conference, jonathan foulds, UK
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5 Comments:
At Fri Aug 01, 12:27:00 PM 2008,
Dingman, MPH said…
Hello Jonathon, thanks for all the timely info. Surprised you did not mention the recent research on Scotland's 2006 smoking ban. The UK does seem to have a lot to teach us here.
On a cessation note, would you mind explaining in a future blog, the meaning of a CO breathelyzer (sp) score. The booklet explanation is a little vague. What do you tell your patients?
Thanks Much
Deirdre
At Sat Aug 02, 10:35:00 PM 2008,
Jonathan Foulds, MA, MAppSci, PhD said…
Deirdre,
Thanks for your comments and question. Check out my post of Aug 2nd. With patients we typically explain that CO is a poisonous gas that is inhaled from tobacco smoke, and causes the heart to have to do more work to supply oxygen to the body. The CO monitor measures this, and the lower the score the better. Patients like to have their CO level measured and to see it go down and stay down when they quit. I think its a useful motivational tool and helps patients see a relatively quick benefit.
At Mon Aug 04, 11:52:00 AM 2008,
James R said…
I hope the UK conference was a success. I am appreciative of all your help in the field of smoking cessation. I could tell my own Chantix horror story, but I do not want (or need) false sympathy for my situation. I feel that more trials are needed, especially since this medicine has already been proposed for other medical issues. I feel that all doctors should be more respectful of those who suffer from the severe side effects of this medicine. I have a feeling that you might dismiss mine and others' similar severe side effects as nicotine withdraw issues. That is sad. I do not think that thousands of people from thousands of areas of the country have gotten together to make Pfizer (or you) look bad. We are just beginning to realize how many of us there actually are.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
At Mon Aug 04, 07:07:00 PM 2008,
Jonathan Foulds, MA, MAppSci, PhD said…
Dear James R,
Thanks for your encouragement. I would not "dismiss" your or anyone elses symptoms, but I assume readers want my best guess as to what is most likely going on...not for them as an individual (I dont know enough about any reader's situation), but for someone in a situation like they are describing. What I think many people dismiss is how serious nicotine withdrawal can be for some people. I've known people who attempted suicide, confessed to crimes, couldn't drive their car and became depressed in the weeks after quitting smoking...all before Chantix was invented. All these events are fortunately unusual/rare. But all the data I've seen suggests that such experiences are similarly rare for people on Chantix. Thats not to say Chantix didnt cause any of them...just that so far we don't have data to support the media publicity. But some of the stories told by readers of this blog certainly have me wondering. I encourage anyone who believes they had a serious adverse event caused by a medicine to report it to the FDA (in USA) at: http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/report/consumer/consumer.htm
or their own national medicines regulator. If this medicine is doing harm Id far rather know about it sooner than later. I agree that more research is required, but the data I've seen so far is not supportive of a causal effect for Chantix other than for the symptoms that are higher in the drug group in the placebo-controlled trials (e.g. nausea). If you know of others who believe they have suffered adverse events due to this medicine, encourage them to write to FDA with a full history, and to post their story here. Best wishes and thanks for your comment.
At Wed Aug 06, 05:29:00 AM 2008,
James R said…
Thanks for the kind response. When I first had an issue with this medication, I promptly reported it to the FDA, using Medwatch. I promptly reported it to my doctor, he was very responsive. My concern is that there might be more issues that come to light ten to twenty years down the road. I know this medication was toxic to me, I just do not know if the effects will be permanent. With that said, there might be patients that took (or who are now taking) Chantix and their side effects are fully realized yet. Doctor, from experience, this is a very powerful medication, it's side effects could be lethal for some. But not only that, in my case, I could not realize the gravity of the effects, because my judgement and "bearings" were affected, too. It's like, I knew something was very wrong, but I could couldn't put my finger on it. Until, I was hit with a more severe side effect, then there was no question that it was the medication. I am concerned that patients will have severe side effects later on and will not be able to make the connection. Thanks for your time. Keep up the great work,
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