Doctors are ethically obliged to advise patients to quit smoking

BMJ 1998;317:1588 ( 5 December )

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Doctors are ethically obliged to advise patients to quit smoking

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EDITOR $---$ Butler et al studied smokers and their perceptions of doctors' advice on quitting smoking¹; their study concludedwith a discouraging message for doctors who provide such advice.Doctors should consider other evidence when deciding whether togive advice to smokers on quitting. Contrary to Butler et al'sfindings, quantitative surveys have shown that most smokers wantto be given advice about quitting.² Even if the opinions ofthe smokers in this study are representative, we still believethat doctors should not be discouraged from giving advice onquitting.

Advice from doctors is a cost effective intervention. Although brief advice enables only 2% of smokers to quit, it only costs£100 ($160) per success. This is 20 times more cost effectivethan nicotine replacement treatment (about £2000 per success).³In high risk groups such as pregnant women, patients who havehad a myocardial infarction, and men at high risk . . . [Full text of this article]

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Qualitative study of patients' perceptions of doctors' advice to quit smoking: implications for opportunistic health promotion: Christopher C Butler, Roisin Pill, and Nigel C H Stott
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