We analyzed the archived data from our previously published randomized controlled trial of a brief self-determination theory-based smoking cessation intervention adopted for smokers recruited from emergency departments [11 (link)]. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster (UW14-528). The trial protocol has been published elsewhere [11 (link)]. Participants provided written informed consent.
Participants who presented at the emergency departments of four major acute care hospitals in different districts of Hong Kong were considered eligible if they were current smokers (occasional or daily) aged 18 years or older and triaged as either semi-urgent (level 4) or non-urgent (level 5) [12 ]. Exclusion criteria included an impaired mental status, cognitive impairment, communication barriers, or enrollment in other smoking cessation projects.
The sample size was calculated according to a previous trial [3 (link)] of a smoking reduction plus nicotine replacement therapy intervention involving 1154 Chinese adult smokers unwilling to quit smoking (biochemically validated quit rate of 4.4% [10 of 226] in the control group and 8.0% [74 of 928] in the intervention group at 6months). To detect a two-sided significant difference between groups by a chi-square test for comparing proportions with a power of 80% and significance level of 5%, the required sample size was estimated to be 1088 participants (544 in each group). Given an expected attrition rate of approximately 30% at the 6-month follow-up, the target was at least 1554 individuals (777 in each group). Between July 4, 2015 and March 17, 2017, 1571 smokers who presented at 4 major emergency departments consented to participate in this randomized controlled trial and were randomized into an intervention group (n = 787) and a control group (n = 784). Participants in the intervention group received brief advice and were given the option to either quit immediately (QI) or progressively (QP). Participants in the control group received a smoking cessation leaflet. Other details of the trial have been reported elsewhere [11 (link)].Table 1 shows the characteristics of participants in the QI, QP, and the control groups. A Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flowchart is presented in Fig 1 .
Participants who presented at the emergency departments of four major acute care hospitals in different districts of Hong Kong were considered eligible if they were current smokers (occasional or daily) aged 18 years or older and triaged as either semi-urgent (level 4) or non-urgent (level 5) [12 ]. Exclusion criteria included an impaired mental status, cognitive impairment, communication barriers, or enrollment in other smoking cessation projects.
The sample size was calculated according to a previous trial [3 (link)] of a smoking reduction plus nicotine replacement therapy intervention involving 1154 Chinese adult smokers unwilling to quit smoking (biochemically validated quit rate of 4.4% [10 of 226] in the control group and 8.0% [74 of 928] in the intervention group at 6months). To detect a two-sided significant difference between groups by a chi-square test for comparing proportions with a power of 80% and significance level of 5%, the required sample size was estimated to be 1088 participants (544 in each group). Given an expected attrition rate of approximately 30% at the 6-month follow-up, the target was at least 1554 individuals (777 in each group). Between July 4, 2015 and March 17, 2017, 1571 smokers who presented at 4 major emergency departments consented to participate in this randomized controlled trial and were randomized into an intervention group (n = 787) and a control group (n = 784). Participants in the intervention group received brief advice and were given the option to either quit immediately (QI) or progressively (QP). Participants in the control group received a smoking cessation leaflet. Other details of the trial have been reported elsewhere [11 (link)].
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