Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Comparative Study
Discussion of NRT and other antismoking interventions in UK general practitioners' routine consultations.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is an effective smoking cessation treatment, but little information is available about how primary care physicians use the therapy. We investigated the quality of UK general practitioners' (GPs') advice against smoking, including how frequently they recommend NRT to smokers. We compared the characteristics of smokers whom GPs recommended use NRT with smokers who did not receive GP recommendations. ⋯ Intending to give up smoking in the next 4 weeks was the only variable independently associated with smokers' recall of discussing NRT (OR=2.58 [95% CI 1.20% to 5.57%]). The study findings thus provide only limited information to support the notion that UK GPs recommend NRT in an evidence-based manner. Now that NRT is available by prescription from UK GPs, further research is needed to monitor whether this effective antismoking therapy is being prescribed appropriately.