Programmes for smoking cessation can work

EDITOR—Moore et al show that giving smoking cessation booklets to pregnant women does not help them stop smoking.1 But the intervention offered to pregnant smokers in this study was not based on previously available evidence that adding booklets to face to face advice does not improve smoking cessation rates2 and that more intensive interventions are needed to help pregnant smokers stop smoking.3

Nevertheless, a recent meta-analysis indicates that individually tailored materials produced by computers increase by 80% the odds of stopping smoking compared with receiving no materials.2 Because computer tailored programmes are based on the relevant personal characteristics of each smoker, participants may be more interested in …