ArticleBMC medicine2015
Does reduced smoking if you can't stop make any difference?
Article in BMC medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
55 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Interventions to reduce harm from continued tobacco use.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Psychosocial Smoking Cessation Interventions for People with Serious Mental Illness.Journal of dual diagnosisPooled it
- Effects of a Modified Exposure Claim for an e-Cigarette on Claim Comprehension, Behavioral Intentions, and Risk Perceptions Among US Adult Tobacco Users and Nonusers: Randomized Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Trial
- Sex differences in the relationship between quit attempt and smoking cessation self-efficacy in adults with depressive symptoms.Addictive behaviors · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Outcomes of a Comprehensive Mobile Smoking Cessation Program With Nicotine Replacement Therapy in Adult Smokers: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- The old and familiar meets the new and unknown: patient and clinician perceptions on e-cigarettes for smoking reduction in UK general practice, a qualitative interview study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Trial
- Cigarette pack size and consumption: an adaptive randomised controlled trial.BMC public health · 2021Trial
- Randomised pilot trial of cash incentives for reducing paediatric asthmatic tobacco smoke exposures from maternal caregivers and members of their social network.Archives of disease in childhood · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Impact of Graphic Warning Messages on Intentions to Use Alternate Tobacco Products.Journal of health communication · 2020Trial
- Self-initiated gradual smoking reduction among community correction smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2019Trial
- Effects of time-varying changes in tobacco and alcohol use on depressive symptoms following pharmaco-behavioral treatment for smoking and heavy drinking.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Trial
- Evaluation of the cognitive behavioral smoking reduction program "Smoke_less": a randomized controlled trial.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2018Trial
- Functional network connectivity predicts treatment outcome during treatment of nicotine use disorder.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2017Trial
- Combustion and Heated Tobacco Cigarettes, but Not E-Cigarettes, Impair Aquaporin-Dependent HCells · 2026Article
- Offering e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and reduction in people with mental illness (ESCAPE): Protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Effects of E-cigarettes on Combustible Cigarette Smoking Among Adults With Opioid Use Disorder on Buprenorphine: Single Arm ERASER Pilot Trial.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Article
- Characteristics and smoking behaviors among patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in South Africa.BMC public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPromoting and supporting smoking reduction in smokers with no immediate intention of stopping smoking is controversial given existing fears that this will deter cessation and that reduction itself may not improve health outcomes. DISCUSSION: Evidence shows that smokers who reduce the number of daily cigarettes smoked are more likely to attempt and actually achieve smoking cessation. Further, clinical trials have shown that nicotine replacement therapy benefits both reduction and cessation. Worldwide data suggests that 'non-medical' nicotine is more attractive to people who smoke, with electronic cigarettes now being widely used. Nevertheless, only one small trial has examined the use of electronic cigarettes to promote reduction, with direct evidence remaining inconclusive. It has been suggested that long-term reduced smoking may directly benefit health, although the benefits are small compared with cessation. SUMMARY: The combined data imply that smoking reduction is a promising intervention, particularly when supported by clean nicotine; however, the benefits are only observed when it leads to permanent cessation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.