Recent research carried out by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention explains just how addictive smoking is and why it is so difficult to kick the habit. Alarmingly, only 6% of people who try to stop smoking actually have any success. Two thirds of smokers want to quit so this suggests very few actually make it. Very few even try to quit with 69% of smokers saying they want to quit and only half of them trying.
Interestingly, people are more likely to succeed if they have a degree, seek help or take medication. The research also showed that those who attempted to quit could have doubled and in cases even tripled their chances of quitting by seeking support or by taking medication, for example, Champix.
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, reveals that stop smoking intervention programmes and nicotine replacement therapy are associated with cessation success. This is good news considering one of the reports highlighted the fact the rate of cessation has remained constant for the last 10 years. Smoking rates are far lower than they were 60 years ago but the numbers are not decreasing quickly enough for us to see a major drop in smoking related illnesses.