However, most people try to quit smoking by gradually reducing the amount they smoke before giving up completely.
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All participants were asked to set a “quit day” two weeks after they enrolled in the study – and during those weeks their behavior differed only by whether they were quitting abruptly or gradually.
The results revealed that 39 percent of the gradual cessation group and 49 percent of the abrupt cessation group had successful kept off tobacco at four weeks.
Once the day of quitting passed, the participants were assessed weekly for the next four weeks, and after six months. But in a group of this size, those differences are considered statistical proof that quitting abruptly is a superior strategy to tiptoeing into the decision.
The study is scheduled to be published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Those numbers also underscore a somewhat depressing truth among cigarette smokers wishing to quit: Failure is common.
Overall, those who specified a preference to gradually taper cigarette use were less likely to quit successfully. “Based on this we have suggested that people who reduce their smoking before quitting find the experience of cutting down hard and this causes them discomfort, like cravings, which ultimately may put them off quitting altogether”.
“However, with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once and our study found evidence to support that”, Lindson-Hawley told Reuters Health by email. “The people who did make a quit attempt were as likely to stay quit whatever group they were in”. “What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they gradually reduced before quitting”. While they followed those gradual-quit patterns, they wore nicotine patches and got fast-acting nicotine products, including gum, tablets, lozenges and sprays. This study evaluated abrupt versus gradual quitting strategies by randomly assigning cigarette smokers to quit abruptly or to gradually taper cigarette use over two weeks before quitting.
The difference between the two groups was clear from the start, as more of the cold turkey quitters were able to stave of smoking for at least 24 hours than those in the other group.
Want to quit smoking but having a hard time? All of the participants received counseling assistance from nurses and short-term nicotine replacement medications after the quit day. These all contribute to low quit rates.
The latest finding falls in line with other research on quitting.
Cold turkey is the best way to quit smoking.
The researchers acknowledge that this is hardly the last word on the best way to quit.
It is a question that prompts much debate – what is the best way for a smoker to quit? “Participants who preferred to quit gradually were less likely to achieve abstinence, regardless of how they were allocated to quit”.
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You can forget trying to cut down, or substituting with a vape.
