Making smoking cessation easier and closer the smoker: The results of Milan study of antismoking centers in pharmacies

Background: - A few strong inputs from the Italian Institute of Health indicate that information and assistance to smokers are still far from being satisfactory. Aims: - To verify if offering smoking cessation at the pharmacy, a health facility where smokers have often the chance to stop, can promote the participation to cessation programs. Methods: - A 6-month pilot phase was carried out from October 2010 to March 2011. Five pharmacies in Milan were selected. Chemists were trained by the team of the Antismoking Center of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (INT). Every pharmacy was equipped with informative material, CO analyzers, motivational and FTND's questionnaires and with a clinical briefcase; moreover a trained psychologist of INT collaborated with the chemist. Results: - In the first four months of activity 144 smokers (54% male, 46% females) asked for a consultation. The median values were: age 52 years, p/y 31, CO 14ppm, FTND's test 5. Regarding the pathologies, 25% of the smokers had cardiovascular and 11% respiratory diseases, 22% other pathologies, 43% declared they were “healthy” smokers. Overall, 45% of the smokers asked to stop smoking, 33% to reduce, 21% just wanted to get information. Conclusions: - The results show that the opportunity to have accessible and free smoking cessation service is considered useful by smokers. The great number of requests, together with the easy transferability of the project to other pharmacies, makes it a very promising initiative for the next future.