Trial reportLancet (London, England)2008
An informal school-based peer-led intervention for smoking prevention in adolescence (ASSIST): a cluster randomised trial.
Trial report in Lancet (London, England), 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 189 papers, 16 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
189 citing papers in PubMed, 16 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Selective prevention programs for substance and behavioral addictions in adolescents: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Perceptions of friendship, peers and influence on adolescent smoking according to tobacco control context: a systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative research.BMC public health · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the benefits of school-based, peer-led interventions for leaders.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- School-based peer education interventions to improve health: a global systematic review of effectiveness.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Literature Review of Peer-led Strategies for Promoting Physical Activity Levels of Adolescents.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2022Pooled it
- Exploring the association between school-based peer networks and smoking according to socioeconomic status and tobacco control context: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Characteristics and practices of school-based cluster randomised controlled trials for improving health outcomes in pupils in the United Kingdom: a methodological systematic review.BMC medical research methodology · 2021Pooled it
- Peer influence in adolescent drinking behavior: A meta-analysis of stochastic actor-based modeling studies.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Social network interventions for health behaviours and outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Narratives of community engagement: a systematic review-derived conceptual framework for public health interventions.BMC public health · 2017Pooled it
- Tobacco cessation interventions for young people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Peer-led interventions to prevent tobacco, alcohol and/or drug use among young people aged 11-21 years: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2016Pooled it
- Socioeconomic gradients in the effects of universal school-based health behaviour interventions: a systematic review of intervention studies.BMC public health · 2015Pooled it
- School-based programmes for preventing smoking.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- [Does the lack of evidence of effectiveness among international studies on interventions in prevention and health promotion have an impact on a German Act of Prevention?].Medizinische Klinik (Munich, Germany : 1983) · 2009Pooled it
- Transporting the effect of the ASSIST school-based smoking prevention intervention to the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England Survey (2004-2021): A secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Trial
- Promoting water consumption among children: a three-arm cluster randomised controlled trial testing a social network intervention.Public health nutrition · 2021Trial
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention, a peer led physical activity program for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- The Efficacy of Primavera, a Prevention Programme on Alcohol and Tobacco Use among 10-12-Year-Old Schoolchildren: A Randomized Controlled Cluster Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
129 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSchools in many countries undertake programmes for smoking prevention, but systematic reviews have shown mixed evidence of their effectiveness. Most peer-led approaches have been classroom-based, and rigorous assessments are scarce. We assessed the effectiveness of a peer-led intervention that aimed to prevent smoking uptake in secondary schools.
methodsWe undertook a cluster randomised controlled trial of 10 730 students aged 12-13 years in 59 schools in England and Wales. 29 schools (5372 students) were randomly assigned by stratified block randomisation to the control group to continue their usual smoking education and 30 (5358 students) to the intervention group. The intervention (ASSIST [A Stop Smoking In Schools Trial] programme) consisted of training influential students to act as peer supporters during informal interactions outside the classroom to encourage their peers not to smoke. Follow-up was immediately after the intervention and at 1 and 2 years. Primary outcomes were smoking in the past week in both the school year group and in a group at high risk of regular smoking uptake, which was identified at baseline as occasional, experimental, or ex-smokers. Analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered, number ISRCTN55572965.
findingsThe odds ratio of being a smoker in intervention compared with control schools was 0.75 (95% CI 0.55-1.01) immediately after the intervention (n=9349 students), 0.77 (0.59-0.99) at 1-year follow-up (n=9147), and 0.85 (0.72-1.01) at 2-year follow-up (n=8756). The corresponding odds ratios for the high-risk group were 0.79 (0.55-1.13 [n=3561]), 0.75 (0.56-0.99 [n=3483]), and 0.85 (0.70-1.02 [n=3294]), respectively. In a three-tier multilevel model with data from all three follow-ups, the odds of being a smoker in intervention compared with control schools was 0.78 (0.64-0.96).
interpretationThe results suggest that, if implemented on a population basis, the ASSIST intervention could lead to a reduction in adolescent smoking prevalence of public-health importance.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.