Update - Spirometry helps to stamp out smoking

VOL: 102, ISSUE: 46, PAGE NO: 40

Researchers in Poland have found that spirometry combined with advice can lead to relatively high smoking cessation rates in adults.

Researchers in Poland have found that spirometry combined with advice can lead to relatively high smoking cessation rates in adults.

A total of 4,494 smokers were screened using spirometry for signs of airway obstruction and received smoking cessation advice. Of these, 1,177 were told that they had COPD and that cessation would halt its progress.

A year later, 3,077 (70%) attended a follow-up appointment and the researchers found that those with airway obstruction were more likely to do so.

The smoking cessation rate was 16.3% for those with airway obstruction compared with
12% in those with normal lung function tests. The authors suggest that the spirometry results demonstrated the harmful effects of smoking and reinforced the smoking cessation advice.

Thorax (2006) 61: 10, 869-873.