Smoking can make you sick and shorten your life. If you quit now, you will be healthier. Quitting is hard work, but there are ways to help you.

This one-page tip sheet contains important information to help you stop smoking.

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This tool provides recommendations based on your current cigarette use.

What type of nicotine replacement will be best for you?

• Your choice of nicotine replacement depends on your personal preference, side effects of the replacement methods, and your past experience with quitting.
• Consider the information provided in this tool when choosing a nicotine replacement method.
• Remember:
  - If you are pregnant or have an unstable heart or blood vessel disease, discuss nicotine replacement options with your physician.
  - It's important to not smoke while using nicotine replacement.
  - Make a follow-up appointment with your health care provider to review progress.
  - Greater success comes when combining nicotine replacement with a behavioral smoking cessation program.

NOTE: This content was excerpted from the ACP Clinical Skills Module, Counseling for Behavior Change.

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The nicotine patch plus lozenge produced the greatest benefit relative to placebo for smoking cessation compared to four other regimens, researchers reported.

To assess the relative efficacies of five smoking cessation pharmacotherapy interventions, researchers designed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 1,504 adults who had smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day during the past six months. Researchers reported results in the November Archives of General Psychiatry.

Participants were randomized to one of six treatments: nicotine lozenge, nicotine patch, sustained-release bupropion, patch plus lozenge, bupropion plus lozenge, or placebo. In addition, all participants received six individual counseling sessions.

The study may have been limited because it could have selected participants with greater motivation to quit than smokers in the general population. In addition, it examined only short-term use of smoking cessation therapies and did not include varenicline because it hadn't been approved yet by the FDA.

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From the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
This resource compiles content and resources to help you quit smoking.

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From the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
This resource compiles content and resources to help you quit smoking.

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From the American Lung Association

This free online smoking cessation program from the American Lung Association has recently been upgraded.

Excerpted from the program introduction:
Quitting smoking can evoke a lot of feelings: fear, resentment, relief, and so on. If you stay committed to the program and complete all of the assignments you have a good chance of remaining smoke-free for good. Millions of people have quit smoking and you can do it too!

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From the National Library of Medicine
This multimedia tutorial explains the risks associated with smoking.

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