Trial reportThorax2017
Effectiveness of a brief community outreach tobacco cessation intervention in India: a cluster-randomised controlled trial (the BABEX Trial).
Trial report in Thorax, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 7 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
34 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Korean Clinical Practice Guideline of Korean Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (KSRNT) and National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) on Treatment of Tobacco Use 2024.Journal of Korean medical science · 2025Guideline
- Interventions for smokeless tobacco use cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Behavioral Interventions for Tobacco Cessation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Pooled it
- Mindfulness for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Completeness of reporting and risks of overstating impact in cluster randomised trials: a systematic review.The Lancet. Global health · 2021Pooled it
- Individual-level behavioural smoking cessation interventions tailored for disadvantaged socioeconomic position: a systematic review and meta-regression.The Lancet. Public health · 2019Pooled it
- Smokeless tobacco cessation interventions: A systematic review.The Indian journal of medical research · 2018Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Medical Student Counseling for Hospitalized Patients Addicted to Tobacco (MS-CHAT): a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Trial
- A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of Brief Interventions to Encourage Quit Attempts in Smokers From Socioeconomic Disadvantage.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Trial
- Effect of a Community Health Worker-Based Approach to Integrated Cardiovascular Risk Factor Control in India: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Global heart · 2019Trial
- Development, validation and feasibility testing of a 12-minute Yoga-Breath Linked Intervention to Stop Smoking (Y-BLISS) module.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- The Hidden Dangers of Vaping and the Need for Community Action: An Indian Perspective.International journal of preventive medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- Behavioural interventions for tobacco cessation in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Review
- Article
- Tobacco Cessation Intervention for Young People.Cureus · 2022Review
- Smoking cessation among people with mental illness: A South African perspective.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2022Article
- Behavioural support and nicotine replacement therapy for smokeless tobacco cessation: protocol for a pilot randomised-controlled multi-country trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2022Article
- Healthy, nudged, and wise: Experimental evidence on the role of information salience in reducing tobacco intake.Health economics · 2022Article
- Personalised multicomponent interventions for tobacco dependence management in low socioeconomic populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTobacco use kills half a million people every month, most in low-middle income countries (LMICs). There is an urgent need to identify potentially low-cost, scalable tobacco cessation interventions for these countries.
objectiveTo evaluate a brief community outreach intervention delivered by health workers to promote tobacco cessation in India.
designCluster-randomised controlled trial.
setting32 low-income administrative blocks in Delhi, half government authorised ('resettlement colony') and half unauthorised ('J.J. cluster') communities.
participants1213 adult tobacco users.
interventionsAdministrative blocks were computer randomised in a 1:1 ratio, to the intervention (16 clusters; n=611) or control treatment (16 clusters; n=602), delivered and assessed at individual level between 07/2012 and 11/2013. The intervention was single session quit advice (15 min) plus a single training session in yogic breathing exercises; the control condition comprised very brief quit advice (1 min) alone. Both were delivered via outreach, with contact made though household visits. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was 6-month sustained abstinence from all tobacco, assessed 7 months post intervention delivery, biochemically verified with salivary cotinine.
resultsThe smoking cessation rate was higher in the intervention group (2.6% (16/611)) than in the control group (0.5% (3/602)) (relative risk=5.32, 95% CI 1.43 to 19.74, p=0.013). There was no interaction with type of tobacco use (smoked vs smokeless). Results did not change materially in adjusted analyses, controlling for participant characteristics.
conclusionsA single session community outreach intervention can increase tobacco cessation in LMIC. The effect size, while small, could impact public health if scaled up with high coverage. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTCN23362894.
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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.