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Cigarette Smoking (cont.)

Treating tobacco use requires integrated steps.

Smokers must partner with their doctors, families, spouses, friends, even employers, to make quitting successful.

Quitting is not easy. Every year, 34% of all smokers try to quit, but only about 2.5% succeed. Nonetheless, 1 million Americans quit smoking each year.

The medical conditions caused by smoking—respiratory illness, heart disease, circulatory disease, cancer, ulcers—need to be treated.

The nicotine addiction also must be addressed and generally consists of a combination of the following:
- Nicotine replacement therapy (gum, patch, inhaler, or nasal spray): Nicotine patches are available over the counter, under several brand names, but are best used in conjunction with a doctor.
- Doctors may give you bupropion (Zyban or Wellbutrin), a prescription drug.
- Group or behavioral counseling. The most successful quitting programs use combinations of drug treatment and counseling and have success rates of 5% after 1 year.

Smokers trying to quit need lots of support and encouragement to help handle the inevitable urges to light up.

Doctors, although trained in the diagnosis and treatment of smoking-related illnesses, may be less comfortable in providing the counseling and drug treatment smokers need to quit.

Health insurance plans often fail to pay for smoking cessation services.
- This may discourage hospitals, clinics, and other health care settings from establishing stop-smoking programs.
- Your employer may reimburse you for some of the cost of a clinic. A typical stop-smoking program costs less than $500, equal to the cost of about 150 packs of cigarettes. When including the gains in productivity caused by fewer missed days of work, and decreased use of health care resources, smoking cessation programs available through your employer can be quite cost-effective.