BMJ  2003;326 (17 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7398.0-c

Targeted programmes needed for hardcore smokers

Hardcore smokers say they will keep on smoking. In a cross sectional study of 7766 English smokers, Jarvis and colleagues (p 1061) found that 16% were hardcore, four times as many as previous research has suggested. Hardcore smokers were defined as those who had never attempted to stop smoking and did not wish or intend to give it up in the future, and those who had not gone a day without smoking cigarettes in the past five years. Hardcore smoking was commoner in older and more dependent smokers, and in those from more socioeconomically deprived backgrounds. They tended to believe that their present health was unaffected by smoking and was unlikely to be affected in the future. Despite hardcore smokers' recalcitrance, the authors say that targeted interventions could help older and socially disadvantaged smokers to quit.

CRISTINA PEDRAZZINI/SPL

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