A new study found that smoking-cessation aids are effective in helping smokers quit, according to an April 24 press release from the Center for the Advancement of Health.

"Our findings refute some earlier suggestions that smoking-cessation programs may not have sufficient public-health impact to justify their existence," said lead author Shu-Hong Zhu, PhD, of the University of California at San Diego.

Zhu's findings were based on a survey of 4,480 individuals in California who had attempted to quit smoking in the previous year. Nearly 20 percent of those surveyed had used at least one of the following methods to help them quit: self-help materials, counseling, or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

Researchers found that these smoking-cessation aids increased the odds of success in quitting smoking. About 15 percent of those who used a smoking-cessation aid abstained from cigarettes for 12 months, compared with 7 percent of those who quit without assistance.

Zhu and his colleagues also determined that "different levels of nicotine dependence may lead to different levels of responsiveness to treatments."

The study is published in the May 2000 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.