Smoking is a chronic addictive disease. It is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. Healthcare professionals are obliged to treat smokers correctly in order to achieve smoking cessation.
Tobacco consumption is the most pernicious addiction in the developed world and is the leading preventable cause of death in Spain. According to recent data, every year 55,000 people die in our country because of tobacco. The WHO states that tobacco kills more than 4 million people a year, and it is estimated that it will exceed 8 million deaths by 2020.
According to the 2015 National Health Survey (ENS), 26% of adult Spaniards smoke, equivalent to about 12 million people. In terms of gender, smoking among men decreased, while smoking among women increased from 23% of smokers to 27.2%.
What does smoking cessation treatment consist of?
Smoking cessation treatment is different for each smoker and depends on their motivation to quit smoking. Those who are willing to quit smoking should receive two types of intervention: one aimed at combating the psychological dependence and the other to alleviate the physical dependence on nicotine, which is the substance responsible for the physiological addiction and withdrawal syndrome. This addiction is comparable to that produced by cocaine or heroin.
Smoking cessation medications
In the last decade, new medications have appeared to help quit smoking. The irruption of pharmacological treatments in the therapeutic field has opened a debate on the need for their financing by the public health system.
The publication of recent scientific evidence on varenicline, one of the most widely used drugs in smoking cessation, concludes that it triples the chances of success compared to using no drug at all.
Benefits of quitting smoking
The benefits of quitting smoking are multiple. The ex-smoker quickly experiences a substantial improvement in his quality of life, with a significant increase in his tolerance to exercise and in his gustatory and olfactory capacities. The risk of cerebrovascular accidents decreases, the risk of suffering a heart attack is reduced by half and the probability of suffering respiratory diseases, including lung cancer, decreases. In addition, smokers who quit have up to a half reduction in sick leave, fewer sick days lost and fewer doctor visits.
Who can offer me treatment to quit smoking?
In Spain, regional smoking cessation plans have begun to be drawn up. The latest diagnostic and therapeutic advances in smoking cessation will be applied in this consultation. The participation of the physician specializing in Pneumology in smoking cessation considerably increases the quit rate of smoking patients in smoking cessation units.