Smokers prefer cold turkey

Despite the many pharmaceutical aids and helplines available, researchers find that smokers prefer to quit cold turkey.

A team of public health researchers at the University of Sydney are curious to know why ‘cold turkey’ is the preferred method used by smokers when wanting to give it up.

In a 2010 survey, over two-thirds of smokers using this method, prompting an investigation by the team of researchers to looking into why and how smokers use different methods when giving up.

A research specialist in the determinants of health-related behaviours and leader of the study, Dr Sally Dunlop, said: “unassisted cessation”, the official name of cold turkey, is understudied and unexploited.

“Both prior to and since the advent of nicotine replacement and other pharmacological therapies, unassisted cessation has proved to be the approach which most smokers use to finally stop,” she said.

“We believe it is time to pay much closer attention to the potential role of the cold turkey method.”

The study is being conducted in association with the Cancer Institute, and will use data from interviews with ex-smokers who have quit for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of five years, with a focus on those with nearer to five years continuous abstinence.

Professor in Public Health at the Sydney Medical School and co-researcher on the study, Simon Chapman, said the key for future anti-smoking campaigns is to understand why the unassisted methods of quitting are so successful.

“If we can understand why this method appears to work for most ex-smokers we can create relevant and impactful future tobacco control policies and practice. We can also help create the relevant support mechanisms for persons wanting to give up cigarettes,” Mr Chapman said.

He blamed pharmaceutical companies for endorsing commercial investments which promoted the need for potential quitters to use their products. He said they send the message that “if you’re serious about quitting you need help or assistance”.

“It is a terrible mistake to undermine people’s self-confidence to quit,” Mr Chapman said.

The two-year study will commence this month and is being funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

NSW data shows that 30-43 per cent of smokers and ex-smokers who recently attempted to quit reported using quit smoking medications, less than 10 per cent reported calling the Quitline, and less than five per cent used smoking cessation clinics.

Mr Chapman said: “It is known among ex-smokers that if you’re serious about it, you just have to do it yourself”.