Helping people to give up smoking; efficacy and safety of smoking cessation interventions

- This review evaluates the safety and efficacy of, smoking cessation interventions.- Behavioural counselling is the cornerstone of smoking cessation programmes.- This counselling can be supplemented with written self-help materials, telephone counselling and e-health tailored to individual patient preferences.- Behavioural counselling may be combined with pharmacotherapy for increased effectiveness. First choice is a combination of a nicotine patch and a nicotine lozenge or chewing gum, mainly because of the favourable side-effect profile.- Furthermore, varenicline, bupropion and nortripyline are effective in smoking cessation; varenicline appears to be the most effective drug. These drugs have, however, more contraindications and potential side effects, which necessitates a correct diagnosis and more intensive monitoring.- The e-cigarette is not recommended as it seems to be equally efficacious as nicotine replacement therapy, but its potential side effects - such as normalising smoking - have not been sufficiently investigated.