Does biomedical risk assessment help as an adjunct to smoking cessation interventions?

Abstract

Biomedical risk assessment (providing feedback on smoking‐related harm) as an adjunct to smoking cessation interventions may lead to more people stopping smoking at six months (on average, 151 vs 119 per 1000 people; moderate‐certainty evidence). In contrast, giving feedback on smoking‐related disease risk may result in fewer people quitting at six months (134 vs 168 per 1000 people; low‐certainty evidence). Giving feedback on smoking exposure seems to result in little to no difference in smoking cessation rates (moderate‐certainty evidence). RCT evidence seems to suggest that successful smoking cessation depends on the type of feedback given, but some evidence is of low certainty and only short‐term results are available. Consequently, no firm conclusions about biomedical risk assessment as an adjunct to smoking can be drawn.