Press Release
Date: 01-08-08Name: Jerry Carey Phone: 856-566-6171
Email: careyge@umdnj.edu
NJ smokers twice as likely to quit with Quitcenters
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“Most people who smoke want to quit, but are addicted to nicotine,” said Mary Hrywna, manager of the CTSER. “The results of our analysis are even more remarkable when one considers that these clients are highly nicotine dependent and have often tried quitting before.”
On average, the NJ Quitcenter clients had smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for the past 25 years and had made six prior attempts to quit on their own. After six months, 24.4 percent of NJ Quitcenter clients self-reported that they were not using tobacco products. The actual success rate is likely higher because the analysis assumes that all clients who were not reached for follow-up were smokers. This 24.4 percent success rate achieved with NJ Quitcenters is significantly higher than the rate estimated by the U.S. Public Health Service for those who try to quit with no treatment (10.8 percent).
"Many smokers who initially planned to quit on New Year's Day have already relapsed, having found it was a bit tougher than expected,” said Dr. Michael Steinberg, medical director at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health’s Tobacco Dependence Clinic, one of eight Quitcenters funded by the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services. “However, the data in this new report shows that rather than giving up, they should get help from a New Jersey Quitcenter."
The complete CTSER report, “A Profile of New Jersey Quitcenters,” includes quit rates by age, race, gender, education and employment and marital status and is available at: http://www.state.nj.us/health/as/ctcp/documents/cessation_brief_Sep4.pdf.
New Jersey Quitcenters provide state residents with low cost, face-to-face counseling in both individual and group formats along with consultation on the use of prescription or over the counter medication to assist them in quitting. A map showing the locations and phone numbers for all NJ Quitcenters is available at www.tobaccoprogram.org/quitcenters.htm.
The Center for Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Research (CTSER) is based at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health and its main goal is to conduct research on tobacco use behavior and provide useful feedback for tobacco control initiatives. Under a contract with the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, CTSER is also responsible for the statewide evaluation of New Jersey’s Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program (CTCP).
The UMDNJ-School of Public Health is the nation’s first collaborative school of public health and is sponsored by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in cooperation with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
To request an interview with Ms. Hrywna or with Dr. Steinberg, please contact Jerry Carey, UMDNJ News Service, at (856) 566 6171 or (973) 972 5000.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.
