Encouraging Text Messages Help Smokers Quit

Smokers who received daily text messages offering advice and encouragement as they attempted to quit smoking were twice as likely to succeed as others trying to quit, according to a new study conducted in New Zealand, Great Britain and Norway.

Reuters reported Oct. 8 that four trials involving 2,600 smokers also gave smokers the option of texting for advice when they were struggling with a specific aspect of quitting, such as craving cigarettes.

Most of the subjects did not succeed in quitting, but the success rate after six weeks was doubled among the text-message group. A program in Norway that used a combination of texting, e-mail and a website achieved similar abstinence rates after one year.

The research appears in the Cochrane Library.