Carbon monoxide-validated four-week smoking abstinence from 167,487 treatment episodes among patients from 42 UK National Health Service Stop Smoking Services (1 April 2009, to 30 June 2011) showed smoking abstinence rates were higher with varenicline than combination nicotine replacement therapy (43.5% vs. 36.9%) but systematic variation in medication effect across clinical services and differences in predictors of outcome between medications resulted in a small mean advantage for varenicline (odds ratio, 1.080; 95% CI, 1.003–1.163; difference, 1.86%; 95% CI, 0.07%–3.67%; P = .04).

Multilevel regression analyses of 4,199 observations reported by 243 individuals (aged 20 to 40) show that coping was mainly associated with a reduced lapse risk and not with lower urge levels or a weaker association between urge levels and lapses.

Intention-to-treat analysis from 40 cardiac patients randomised to either a post-discharge telephone intervention by a smoking cessation nurse specialist delivered weekly for the first month and then monthly until the third month (experimental group [EG]) vs. referral to usual community care (control group [CG]) showed similar smoking cessation rates at six months (25% EG versus 30% CG; p = 0.72).

The negative affect and somatic features from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) subscales were related to higher levels of nicotine withdrawal while the relationship between the interpersonal disturbance CESD subscale and nicotine withdrawal approached significance, suggesting the need to examine novel psychological mechanisms that may account for the relationship between depression symptoms and smoking cessation.

A high average interrater reliability (88% agreement) with an average of 33 smoking cessation behaviour change techniques (BCTs) from an established taxonomy of 53 BCTs were identified at least once across sessions and coding waves, with an average of 12 BCTs (range = 8 to 31) for 15 audio-recorded consultations, suggesting that the method can be used to investigate variability in provision of behavioural support across services, monitor fidelity of delivery, and identify training needs.

Results from 65 daily cigarette smokers (38 women; mean age = 46.08 years, SD = 9.12) undergoing psychosocial-pharmacological cessation treatment indicated that among high anxiety-sensitivity persons, compared with those low in anxiety sensitivity, anhedonic depression symptoms may be more relevant to the experience of some withdrawal symptoms being more intense and persistent during the early phases of quitting.

Findings from a qualitative study using focus groups of nine men and two women suggest the importance of addressing behavioural and social components of smoking addiction in addition to nicotine dependence and e-cigarettes appear to help some tobacco smokers transition to a less harmful replacement tool, thereby maintaining cigarette abstinence.

Assessment of smokers’ perceptions, motivations and intentions towards using an SMS-assisted smoking cessation intervention in Australia, France and Mexico through an extended technology acceptance model with mediating variables showed that perceived usefulness and vicarious innovativeness predict use intentions while perceived monetary value and perceived annoyance are significant mediating variables for all three countries.

A quantitative high throughput liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method developed for the analysis of plasma cotinine in dried blood spots (DBS) from 83 smokers and 99 non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke ranged from <0.02 to 443 ng/ml, and cotinine in DBS from 157 subjects correlated well to cotinine in plasma; 0.992 (P<0.001) while the ratio of trans 3′-hydroxycotinine to cotinine in DBS from smokers was well correlated with the ratio in plasma; 0.94 (P<0.001).

Logistic regression analyses of 308 white adolescent smokers (aged 12–17 years, 36.3% male) from a cohort study genotyped for CYP2A6 (7.8% slow, 14.0% intermediate and 78.2% normal metabolisers) found 144 smokers quit smoking (abstinent for at least 12 months), producing the odds ratio for quitting of 2.25 (95% confidence interval 1.05, 4.80; P = 0.037) for slow metabolisers relative to normal metabolisers and a linear trend toward increased quitting with decreasing CYP2A6 activity (odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence interval 1.02, 2.01; P = 0.034).

The likelihood of a future quit attempt increased independently with recency and number of prior attempts, as compared to the likelihood of achieving sustained abstinence of at least 6 months which was reduced for smokers with a failed quit attempt within the last year (15.1% vs. 27.1% for those without, p < 0.001). Two or more failed attempts (vs. only one) in the previous year were also associated with a lower likelihood of achieving sustained abstinence (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.38–0.85).

Interviews among 55 members of the Australian public (smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers) revealed two common themes; smokers had to ‘really want to quit’, and the best treatment method would depend on the individual. Pharmacological cessation aids, the most commonly mentioned method for quitting, often recommended alongside methods such as behavioural strategies or counselling while unassisted quitting was mentioned frequently, but there were mixed views on its effectiveness.

Of 5,420 mothers in public maternity units of Porto, Portugal (2005–2006), 47.4% who smoked ceased smoking and 41.7% reduced cigarette consumption during pregnancy. Four years after delivery, only 32.1% of those who stopped smoking during pregnancy continued to abstain.

Positive and Negative Affect Scale used to examine affective processes in smokers with depression undergoing a 12-week smoking cessation intervention (N = 49) found that prolonged abstainers showed significant increases in positive affect (PA) over the course of a quit attempt compared with non-abstainers. Pre-quit affective trajectories significantly predicted post-quit affect for measures of both PA and negative affect (NA) while the interaction of pre-quit affective trajectory and abstinence significantly predicted post-quit levels of NA but not PA.