Media Releases

New guidelines bring good news for smokers

16 July 1999

Associate Minister of Health Georgina te Heuheu will launch tomorrow a set of best practice guidelines for health professionals to use in the fight to help smokers quit. Smoking takes a high toll on New Zealanders' lives. Every year it causes the premature death of an estimated 4,700 people – people who die, on average, 14 years earlier than their non smoking counterparts. Smoking kills one in two who smoke past the age of 35. Most of those killed by tobacco are not particularly heavy smokers, but most did start as teenagers. An estimated 31 per cent of Māori deaths are attributable to tobacco use.

Smokers not only seriously affect their own health, they can seriously affect the health of those around them – particularly children. Second-hand smoke is a Class A carcinogen containing approximately 4,000 chemicals. Exposing children to second-hand smoke can cause middle ear infections, increase the risk of croup, pneumonia and bronchiolitis by 60 per cent in the first 18 months of life, increase the frequency and severity of asthma attacks and even cause asthma in asymptomatic children.

The Guidelines for Smoking Cessation (www.nzgg.org.nz/guidelines) will be launched at the combined conference of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Practice Nurses being held in Wellington. The guidelines were developed by a multidisciplinary team convened by the National Health Committee and chaired by Heart Foundation Medical Director Associate Professor Boyd Swinburn. Team members represented Māori, consumer, policy, purchaser and provider interests and included general practice, practice nurse, research, cessation advice, public health and epidemiology skills.

“Smoking is the major preventable cause of ill health and premature death for New Zealanders” says Boyd Swinburn. “It is beneficial to stop smoking at any age and the earlier smoking is stopped, the greater the gain.”

“Quitting smoking is not easy” says Boyd Swinburn. “It is a process rather than a single event with most smokers cycling through the quit-relapse process three or four times before quitting successfully. The good news for both health professionals and smokers is that there are proven ways to help smokers quit. With persistence, the majority of smokers can quit and the health benefits that follow are enormous.”

“Within one day of quitting, the chance of heart attack decreases. Within two days of quitting, smell and taste are enhanced. Within two weeks to three months of quitting, circulation improves and lung function increases by up to 30 per cent. After 10-15 years, the risk of dying is almost back to that of people who never smoked,” says Dr Swinburn.

The guidelines are one of a number of publicly-funded initiatives to help people quit smoking. On 6 May 1999, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley launched the national ‘Quitline' and earlier this week at the Public Health Association conference in Wellington, Associate Minister of Health Tuariki Delamere launched a television advertising campaign to publicise the Quitline.

The guidelines encourage health professionals to routinely follow four simple steps to help people stop smoking. The four steps – coined the 4 ‘A's are: ask, advise, assist and arrange.

Health professionals should systematically ask about and document the smoking status of every adult

Health professionals should then advise smokers about quitting at nearly every encounter by providing brief cessation messages.

People with some interest in quitting should be assisted to do so by providing information on support options such as the Quitline and nicotine replacement therapy

Health professionals should arrange follow-up for smokers ready to quit.

Guidelines for Smoking Cessation bring together the evidence for effectiveness, important information on support options and a systematic process – the 4 ‘A's – to achieve important health gains for New Zealanders. The guidelines will be distributed widely to all general practices and a range of providers and health professionals.