A randomized controlled trial of a smoking cessation intervention based in community pharmacies

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Abstract
To evaluate whether a structured community pharmacy-based smoking cessation programme (the PAS model) would give rise to a higher smoking cessation rate compared with ad hoc advice from pharmacists. A randomized controlled trial comparing a structured intervention with usual care. One hundred pharmacists working in community pharmacies in N. Ireland and 24 in London took part in the study and were each asked to enroll 12 smokers; 44% of pharmacists who were trained managed to recruit one or more smokers during the recruitment period of approximately 1 year. A total of 484 smokers were enrolled by the pharmacists and individually randomized into the PAS intervention group (N = 265) or the control group (N = 219). The PAS intervention involved a structured counselling programme, an information leaflet and a follow-up weekly for the first 4 weeks then monthly as needed. The primary outcome measure of this study was self-reported smoking cessation for 12 months with cotinine validation at the 12-month follow-up. Of smokers in the PAS group, 14.3% (38) were abstinent up to 12 months compared with 2.7% (6) in the control group (p < 0.001 for the difference). The community pharmacy-based PAS smoking cessation service can be an effective method of helping people stop smoking when delivered by pharmacists willing to adopt this approach.

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