ArticleBMJ open2017
What are older smokers' attitudes to quitting and how are they managed in primary care? An analysis of the cross-sectional English Smoking Toolkit Study.
Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Influence of Smoking Status on Risk of Incident Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Older adults who smoke: Do they engage with and benefit from web-based smoking cessation interventions?Preventive medicine · 2022Trial
- Exercise for Smoking Cessation in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Trial
- Prevalence and correlates of e-cigarette use among older adults aged 60 years and over.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Who does not want to quit? Determinants of no intention to stop smoking in a population-based sample of current smokers.Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Trends and burden of tobacco use in Nepal: Insights from the Global Burden of Disease study 1990-2021.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2026Article
- Variation in Relative Risk Perceptions and Tobacco Use by Race and Socioeconomic Status Among Older Adults Who Smoke: Evidence From the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Observational
- Factors influencing smoking cessation attempts and success in Iranian male adults: national survey data.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Predictors of Patient Engagement in Telehealth-Delivered Tobacco Cessation Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Differences in Normative Beliefs and Tobacco Product Use by Age Among Adults Who Smoke: Cross-Sectional Analysis of a Nationally Representative Sample.Substance use & addiction journal · 2024Article
- The Epidemiology of Smoking in Older Adults: A National Cohort Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Genetic predisposition to smoking in relation to the risk of frailty in ageing.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Co-development of an evidence-based personalised smoking cessation intervention for use in a lung cancer screening context.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2022Article
- Does the association between smoking and mortality differ due to frailty status? A secondary analysis from the Mexican Health and Aging Study.Age and ageing · 2022Article
- Short- and Long-Term Cigarette and Tobacco Abstinence Among Daily and Nondaily Older Smokers.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Article
- Predictors of Cessation Outcomes Among Older Adult Smokers Enrolled in a Proactive Tobacco Quitline Intervention.Journal of aging and health · 2022Article
- The changing relationship between health risk behaviors and depression among birth cohorts of Canadians 65+, 1994-2014.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Perceived Change in Tobacco Use and Its Associated Factors among Older Adults Residing in Rohingya Refugee Camps during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Dynamic associations between anxiety, depression, and tobacco use in older adults: Results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Article
- National Epidemiological Case-Control Study of Pharmacological Smoking Cessation Treatment in Danish Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate whether age is associated with access to smoking cessation services.
designData from the Smoking Toolkit Study 2006-2015, a repeated multiwave cross-sectional household survey (n=181 157).
settingEngland.
participantsPast-year smokers who participated in any of the 102 waves stratified into age groups. OUTCOME MEASURES: Amount smoked and nicotine dependency, self-reported quit attempts and use of smoking cessation interventions. Self-report of whether the general practitioner (GP) raised the topic of smoking and made referrals for pharmacological support (prescription of nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs)) or other support (counselling or support groups).
resultsOlder smokers (75+ years) were less likely to report that they were attempting to quit smoking or seek help from a GP, despite being less nicotine-dependent. GPs raised smoking as a topic equally across all age groups, but smokers aged 70+ were more likely not to be referred for NRT or other support (ORs relative to 16-54 years; 70-74 years 1.27, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.55; 75-79 years 1.87, 95% CI 1.43 to 2.44; 80+ years 3.16, 95% CI 2.20 to 4.55; p value for trend <0.001).
conclusionsOur findings suggest that there are potential missed opportunities in facilitating smoking cessation in older smokers. In this large population-based study, older smokers appeared less interested in quitting and were less likely to be offered support, despite being less addicted to nicotine than younger smokers. It is unclear whether this constitutes inequitable access to services or reflects informed choices by older smokers and their GPs. Future research is needed to understand why older smokers and GPs do not pursue smoking cessation. Service provision should consider how best to reduce these variations, and a stronger effectiveness evidence base is required to support commissioning for this older population so that, where appropriate, older smokers are not missing out on smoking cessation therapies and the health benefits of cessation at older ages.
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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.